


Afterglow: A YOI Story (AU)

by verona_left



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Backstory, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, F/F, Help, LolCulture, M/M, Mermaid!Phichit, Mermaids, Panic Attacks, Please Give Me Feedback Please, Real Tags For Once, Romance, Skater!Viktor, StillAnAsshole!JJ, Supernatural - Freeform, Thai Noodles, Weird Self Help, dont rush me, idfk, maybe smut?, mermaid!yuuri, um, weird bonding, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2020-07-18 00:16:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19965589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verona_left/pseuds/verona_left
Summary: There was something in those eyes after all, Yuuri realized. They had used to be soft, gentle, caring. But now they had filled with something else. It was strong, formidable. Not to be broken in the slightest. And those powerful eyes were directly in front of Yuuri’s timid ones.And then he heard it. It was so soft, so silent that Yuuri could’ve sworn that he didn’t hear it at all: it was eight words exactly:“Don’t worry about the things you can’t change.”Yuuri felt his eyes water, just a bit.And he knew that he shouldn’t let this particular human simply fall back into the crowd.___or: a mermaid au where yuuri is an adorably flustered mermaid who has just made a huge mistake... or did he make an excellent choice?





	1. Give Me A Reason

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Siren's Call: A Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12657330) by [lucycamui](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucycamui/pseuds/lucycamui). 



> Hi. I'm the author... person. I don't know. Anyways, I actually DID make a prologue for this story thing... I just might've accidentally deleted it. So here's a brief summary: 
> 
> Viktor is standing on the podium after winning his fifth GPF gold medal. He feels very proud of himself, like anyone would, but feels a slight tinge of emptiness in his heart. Even after winning all of this he still feels a bit lonely. 
> 
> (turns out the doors magically open and he sees a very hot dude))
> 
> really
> 
> anyways... if you actually wanted to see the real thing (which is much better than this) its on fanfiction.net. same name and everything. also, i would like to clarify something because i am deathly afraid of internet comments: i read lucycamui's book A Siren's Call. and then i really wanted to write something. so i did. i guess that's just what inspiration is. idfk anyways if you havent read that then you should order it in the mail
> 
> k
> 
> um
> 
> what else do i write...? oh yes
> 
> please dont hate me for the shit i write

Afterglow: A YOI Story: Chapter 1

Give Me A Reason  
____________  
Two Months Later...

Viktor's breath hitched.

Standing before him was St. Petersburg, Russia. The place that was his hometown, where he grew up. He had been so busy with skating he'd barely had time to visit. But now that he was back home... he could discover it all over again.

He'd forgotten what the place looked like, almost. The place where he would run about with his best friends, giggling and imagining. Or at least, that's what he always daydreamed about.

Viktor grew up solitary. He always wondered why the kids around him avoided him, bullied him. Often times after classes he would find one of his exam papers missing from his locker, or cruel notes scrawled out in ugly pen all over his backpack. Viktor, over time, got used to it. He knew that that was a bad thing, of course. You shouldn't be used to people bullying you. But it wasn't until later when he figured out why everyone despised him so much.

From an early age, Viktor realized he was gay. There wasn't any doubt in his mind. He was supposed to see women as one of his future wives, but instead he looked the other way. He never had a thing for a girl. Always guys. And, as being raised as a boy in a Catholic household and school, he came out to his mother.

Alisa Nikiforov was horrified.

Immediately after learning this new information, she phoned Viktor's father, Alexei Nikiforov. Alexei was clearly distraught, seeing as his own son was unholy in that way. He had rumbled down the street to his home and given his son a firm talking-to. He wasn't to tell anyone. Ever. Not for any reason at all. Otherwise their whole family would be shunned for this great sin.

But something was bound to slip out. He kept his secret hidden well for a couple of years, before knowing he just couldn't keep it in anymore. So he told one of his friends at school. It was so casual, like anything else happening then. And the rumors spread like wildfire. No wonder everyone avoided him. But he didn't mind. Just by taking one look at the toxic children around him he knew he wouldn't want to be near them anyways. The ways they tormented him should tell you enough of that.

So Viktor was gay. That was true. It was probably the only real thing he knew about himself, and he stuck to his story. He told anyone who asked, because really, what did it matter in the end?

But now...

Nostalgia washed through and through him. He was remembering all the fun he'd had in St. Petersburg, the times where he learned lessons. It's a great experience, that. Seeing something you haven't seen in so long, and knowing how much it affected your life later. Viktor was glad for that privilege. But as he strolled up the front sidewalk of his house, his REAL house, he only felt a little bit scared. Scared to walk in after so long. He feared that someone or something might be waiting for him there. But no. That couldn't happen, because his parents had gone already long ago.

Viktor unlatched and latched his front gate, carrying his various bags with him. People passed by him on the street without taking any notice of the man, and for that Viktor was glad. These days it was not unusual to see someone coming back to St. Petersburg. Everyone wants to see their birthplace again at least once. But for Viktor's case, this would be the place he would spend all his time, trying to figure out what the hell to do with his life now.

Pushing the key into the lock, rotating it, and pulling it back out seemed a bit too complicated right then. Viktor was simply too nervous. He had to confront every event that had happened there, including the Peter Incident... and that wasn't very pretty. At least, not for Peter. But anyways, as the door flew open and the smell of must hit him, his fears were alleviated.

He suddenly remembered how good it felt to be in this huge house alone, how he always got so excited when his parents were out. He would always do the things his strict parents never allowed (for what he thought were stupid reasons) like bolting through the hallways as fast as he could. He'd slide down the banister on his butt and expect not to crash into the foyer, but always did. And most of all, he'd play with his Siamese cat, Elese. When Viktor had turned 8, he learned that he couldn't play with her anymore because of some newfound allergies. But whenever his parents were out he would always sneak her out of his mother's office and run about. That was a good time to remember. Viktor smiled involuntarily at those thoughts, and took a good look at the place.

Stepping inside, Viktor could see that it remained almost exactly the same as it was in his memory. Wooden, polished floors, windows spotless (but now covered with some cobwebs) the walls still colored a blatant white. The staircase still made out of that rich mahogany, with the sleek banister running down it. To his right was the kitchen, it's doorway in an arc, and all of the old dining chairs and table still there. It was almost shocking how much of it was left. Even that super old oven they had used. But it was there. And that made Viktor hopeful.

Standing right in front of him was the elegant staircase, which he would always stumble down whenever there were visitors. It led up to the second floor, where all the bedrooms were. To his left was another arc leading straight into the living room. A stone fireplace adorned the wall, and Viktor remembered several years of sitting around the fire, listening to stories and chatting. The couches and pillows were even there, decorating Viktor's delight of finding everything perfectly intact. Honestly, he didn't expect everything to be there. It awoke many memories in him. He had expected the entire place to be old, rusty and empty. But he supposed when his parents passed that they had wanted their son to remember things.

Beyond the fireplace was the storage room, then the downstairs bathroom. Man, Viktor had nearly forgotten how large this place was. He stared at the fire pit, considering. Then, grabbing a piece of wood from the storage area, he dropped it into the fireplace. And, if he was right...

Behind one of the rocks surrounding the fireplace was an emergency lighter, that he had left there as a young boy. He might have needed to light it in the future. Using that, he quickly lit a small fire in the hearth.

Viktor smiled, satisfied. The warmth of the fire felt good on his skin, and his eyes drooped a little. Watching it was a bit mesmerizing, and jet lag suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. Not only did he have to take a 10 hour flight from California, where he was visiting some relatives, he also had to drop Makkachin off at the vet immediately after he got off the plane. He was worried he wouldn't exactly be able to take care of her in her current condition, since he had to unpack many things. Also, he needed to pick up her medication. But he would have to do all of that later. Now, he was simply marveling at everything in his childhood home.

Sluggish and drowsy, Viktor flopped down on the old, musty couch (which he would definitely have to clean later) and quickly fell asleep.

~~~

Hours later, as Viktor awoke, he got the sense that he had better actually made some sense of unpacking. He still had to undo the piles of packages that would arrive in the mail in the next couple of days, unpack his bags of necessities, and simply get used to everything again. He felt odd being in a house he could truly call his own, if it was only for about a year. He'd spent so much time travelling around, and he never felt as if he belonged anywhere. So this was good.

Reaching out to his phone and checking the time, he saw that it was 8 P.M., and he really shouldn't have slept that long. But he didn't mind. He just needed a nap then. He had some much-needed cleaning to do, and had to sit and adjust. The fire had probably grown quite large at some point; it now burned down low and not much heat was coming from it anymore. Sighing, Viktor picked himself up and started making a list of things to do in the house. If he put his mind to things, he could do them without one. But being jet lagged and feeling slightly nauseous, he made a list so he didn't become severely confused about what to do.

First of all, he had to wash the windows of their disgusting spiderwebs, which was incredibly unpleasant. What Viktor hated probably the most was gross, spindly spiders, with their long grotesque legs that stretched so far over everything and their unpleasant markings that could tell you if they were poisonous or not and the ominous webs they would make to capture unsuspecting prey and they would eat them alive and wrap them and-- that was enough. You get it. Viktor hated spiders. But as he cleared away the webs he couldn't help but feel just a small tinge of emptiness.

As he finished the windows he could now clearly see the sun setting over the horizon. The air of winter made the sky so much lighter than in Spring or Summer, so hues of orange and blue stretched across St. Petersburg. Viktor was surprised there was even a sunset today; it was getting very cold now. It would probably snow soon, and cover the streets with freezing sleet. Viktor had come prepared though, since he grew up in this very spot. He brought his warmest clothes that he had bought from around the world, and would definitely have to use them sometime. Staring out the window, a gust of chilled wind flying through it, he felt a strange sense of... home.

~~~

Several Days Later

Viktor had spent the rest of his week walking all throughout his neighborhood again. The weather, as Viktor had predicted, had turned incredibly cold very fast, and snow had quickly piled up on the streets. The wind had become so chilly that every time people took a breath it felt like you were swallowing winter itself, and many people stayed inside to relax instead of walk about. But not Viktor. He was too busy exploring his hometown all over again, and all that walking was exhausting. Every day when he returned home his eyes would droop just a bit more. At the same time, however, he would just feel more energized for the days ahead.

Today, for his agenda, he would visit Laskovvy beach, which was mostly deserted. It was winter. Nobody wanted to see a giant snowdrift on sand. Except Viktor. Walking beyond the beach area and into a secluded cove, which he and his cousin had discovered as children, Viktor realized he could probably sit and rest a while. All around him were the naked trees of St. Petersburg, and below him fresh snow from the night before. The cove was tiny compared to Laskovvy, but he enjoyed it's company nonetheless. Stretching far out on the horizon was the Gulf of Finland. This time of year the water's color was like a stale blue, which meant it would probably freeze your fingers off if you tried to poke it. Which Viktor didn't. It would be bad luck if he visited the hospital on only the end of the first week back home. But probably hilarious to some of his friends and family. At that thought Viktor had to give a small sigh, and sat down on the new snow. He was still very confused. He had no idea what he was going to do with his life just yet, and an odd feeling of sadness covered his mind.

What was he going to do...?

Viktor flipped out his phone and stared at it's blue screen. He had put a photo of Makkachin and an unfortunate incident on it as the screensaver. By unfortunate incident, Makkachin had gotten into some of the blue paint Viktor was using to cover up some accidental (and also non-accidental) marks he had made on Yurio's skates after Yurio gave him the finger one time. Needless to say neither of them were pleased, and Makkachin ended up covered in way too much paint for one day. Viktor smiled as he remembered those times, a slight chuckle escaping from his lips. Closing his eyes within the moment, as the frozen breeze flew across him, a small splash came from far away.

Sploosh.

Viktor ignored the first one.

Splooooooshh.

Viktor's eyes twitched.

Splooooooooooooooshhh... sploooooshhhhh.

Viktor's eyes were yanked open in only slight irritation. He was trying to remember some of the happier times, before he had moved back home by himself. Why hadn't he just come with someone? It wouldn't have been so lonely then. But as he stared out at the waters, nothing seemed to had made that noise.

"Hm."

Viktor closed his eyes again, feeling so drowsy all of a sudden.

Splooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh!

This time when the noise came Viktor's eyes immediately shot open and he flew upwards, trying to find the cause. The only piece of evidence was a small ripple of water about 30 feet from the shore, coming toward him ever so slowly. Like ripples of water do. Viktor laughed a bit to himself. Why did he shoot up like that? There wasn't anything there. But this time, he didn't sit back down. He simply picked up his phone and got ready to leave once again. Dusting the snow off his pants and trying not to freeze to death, he turned around to go when he heard the loudest splash yet.

SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

And suddenly Viktor found that he wasn't exactly standing anymore. Nope. He was on the snow, with something large holding his legs down to the ground. The breath was knocked out of him, and as he turned back around to see what the actual fuck was causing this, shock covered his face.

It was a beautiful monster.

A mermaid.  



	2. Probably Just A Dream

Afterglow: A YOI Story: Chapter 2

Probably Just A Dream

  
Warning: This chapter includes "discussions" of assault that may be triggering. (I don't know))

____________

_Viktor's eyes fluttered open, his head pounding with pain. God. This was the third time this week._

_He was lying on his side on the bare linoleum floor, some of the tiles streaked with dried blood. His. How long had he been out? Besides that, fresh bruises were beginning to blossom among his arms, proof of what had happened to him. Another person that hated the fact he was gay. Another person to smack him down every other day._

_Viktor sighed heavily, trying to sit up, but failing. It seems that they had really gotten all of his body, his limbs all scraped up. Finally after a few tries he managed to sit upright, and he got a good look at himself. He wished he had better lighting, but the sun was setting, putting bronze shades of light into the empty classroom. Viktor was starting to remember the events that had occurred hours before. Most of his memory was hazy... which probably meant he would just remember the traumatic events later. But again, he was used to it. He didn't need to make a big deal out of it. It was almost like a routine._

_As he stood up, he saw that his whole classroom was in disarray. The chalkboard covered in random, crude marks, the teacher's desk riddled with papers and pencils. Some of the desks had even been knocked over, his own a victim. Hobbling closer to his desk, he saw it was colored with swears and remarks against him. He would have to clean that up later, but right now he had to find his backpack and get home. His mother would be upset if he was late. But Viktor seriously didn't remember anything that had happened, and the messy classroom was a complete mystery to him. He couldn't really focus on anything, either. He stumbled over the various objects on the floor. Way back in the corner of the room, where the teacher's desk was, his backpack stood high on top of a chair. It wasn't open, but zipped up, and nothing seemed to have been taken out of it. Except Viktor saw something... covering it._

_As he tripped over to where it was to get a better look, his eyes widened in horror. Viktor's backpack was covered in blood._

_As he started to question whose it was, he suddenly felt a sharp stab of pain in his arm. Staring down at his wrinkled, bloodied clothes, he unrolled his sleeve on his right arm to see an ugly cut across his wrist._

_They... were that serious?_

_They hated him that much, that they would try to do that? That??_

_Viktor felt foolish as the realization dawned on him. They had tried to kill him. Then covered his backpack in his own blood._

_That was when Viktor came to know the cruelty of the world_.

~~~

Cold.

Viktor was cold. That was the only thought he had.

Like 14 years ago, he was once again lying on his side. But this time, not in blood. In snow. And he didn't know how long he'd been there.

He looked down at his wrists. No. No blood there. Just slight scars, and pale, freezing skin. He would've given a sigh of relief, but he found that he couldn't. His throat couldn't emit those noises. All that he could do was sit and give a slight whimper. His side was hurting, struck by something. Viktor gingerly moved his hands to find the source, but was met by something soft.

Trying to flip over, he realized he was still at the small cove. And he had most likely been out for only about 20 minutes. The sky didn't look any different. But as he sat up, he noticed the thing next to him. A... body.

Viktor gasped so loud that he ended up just scaring himself more. He scrambled away from the figure, snow flying through the air. As he moved further away from it, he began to remember this feeling in his heart. Fear, like from his childhood. He had no idea what had just happened, and he didn't even know if that person was alive or not. Just... laying there. Stiff.

Viktor realized that he should probably go and help them eventually. He couldn't just leave that person there to freeze to death. So, gathering up courage and fighting back some relived trauma, he creeped closer to the person. His fingers felt nearly numb as he approached, so he jammed his hands in his pockets before examining them.

Oh. What he had touched had been their hair, which was a sleek, jet black. They had just been sleeping together on the beach for probably about half an hour or so, and Viktor felt stupid to not have woken up sooner. Covering their body with a white sheen was a fresh row of snow. Trying not to rouse them and yet also clean off their skin, Viktor quietly brushed the snow off of them.

What he expected to see was the person's pale skin, chilled to the touch. What he got was something more than a surprise. A thought, that spread across his mind rapidly and completely overcame him. A memory. Of before he woke up. Of dark blue scales that faded into lighter shades of blue as they traced upwards.

And then he remembered. It was scales of a folk tale, that people never really believed in. The scales of the creature that would supposedly drag you off the shores, to drown you in it's waters. That would befriend you quickly, telling stories of how much it longed for a "companion", before killing you. Of course, not all of them were that insane. Just... most. Viktor had grown up with probably the most superstitious grandparents out there, so he knew what these beasts brought people. He never believed it. But now... he could hear everything they told him rushing through his head like a waterfall.

"Never get too close. Or they'll already have you."

When he remembered that, he just stood still. He didn't know what to do, and was still in shock that something this... ridiculous was happening. However, Viktor slowly started to calm down a bit. And then realize that he was most likely dreaming. Why would there be a mermaid, of all things, on a frozen beach in Russia? He felt incredibly stupid all of a sudden, simply sitting down next to the body and sighing. If this was a dream, then it was pretty vivid for the kinds he had every other night. Those ones were always so blurry, he could barely see a thing. He always knew who was there with him. They consisted of wisps of color and ideas, never forming a comprehensive thought. Then he would wake up, always covered in sweat. Sometimes his eyes would be swollen from crying. He never knew what they meant. If they were nightmares, then what exactly had happened? Later on, when Viktor looked back upon this event, he realized he should have known that this type of dream after those ones was completely unnatural. However, his mind had been pretty scattered since coming back home. He felt more disoriented than ever. And now slightly hopped up on adrenaline.

Viktor realized he couldn't really remember the evenAll he could see on the body was their head, and slight patches of their chest through the snow. He had no idea how they'd been covered so heavily in it. But as he looked up from the figure, he realized it was snowing, and coming down quickly. Quietly, but quickly. That meant he had to get out of there with them before anything drastic happened. He wouldn't want to leave someone just laying out on a snowy beach, regardless of whether or not it was a dream. So, trying to hurry, Viktor slid the snow off of them, preparing to rouse them. "Hey, are you-"

He stopped, too awestruck to say anything. He was staring at the bare chest of a man, one that as muscular and toned. His arms and torso were chiseled... proof of him working on himself. Or doing some other activity. His midnight hair covered his pale face, but Viktor could see hushed pink lips underneath it. They were moving slightly, whispering tiny words. Viktor leaned closer to him, trying to listen, but failing. He had stopped. Instead, the man started to groan in his sleep, saying tiny fragments of words now. Viktor couldn't make any sense of it anymore, and leaned back. Brushing the rest of the rest of the snow revealed something that Viktor would never forget.

It was the sight of a mermaid's tail, a dark navy blue. At the tip of his tail was the darkest color of blue; but as you glanced up his "legs" you could see that the colors got into lighter shades as they went upwards. His scales had a magnificent sheen of water on them from the melted snow. And suddenly Viktor wondered how any of this had happened. He had now fully exposed a mermaid on a frozen beach on the Gulf of Finland, and that would make for one helluva story to tell. Getting curious, Viktor gingerly touched his scales. He thought they would be cold. Instead, as he examined them, he realized that they were... warm. That didn't make any sense. He leaned back to the man's chest, trying to listen to his heart. Beating. But still weird. How did he--

"How long are you going to stare?" a voice asked him.

Startled, Viktor flung his head away from the body and his eyes widened with pure shock. The mermaid was awake. And staring at Viktor with a glare. "How did you manage to capture me, you filthy human?"

Viktor thought it was odd that he felt a bit hurt from that. "I didn't do anything to "capture" you," Viktor said casually. He still thought this was just some freaky dream. "and I really don't remember how you got here." Viktor stood up, brushing snow from his coat and getting ready to leave. The mermaid now had a surprised look on his face. "What?" Viktor inquired.

"Why aren't you trying to hurt me? I must be some precious wonder to your kind..." The man's head lolled back onto the ground, and his eyes seemed glassy. He simply stared at the overcast sky. "What are you-" Viktor was interuppted. "Shh. I'm trying to remember... and I thought for sure you would've left by now, since you seem to be incredibly oblivious..." The mermaid's eyes seemed to trace figures of thought across the clouds, and Viktor was just silently watching him. He started to think that this whole event was getting REALLY weird for a "dream", and he began to question some things. Like, why did his fingers feel like they were about to fall off? Why was he at this beach? And most of all, what the fuck was happening? He was just starting to wonder if this was even actually a dream or not when the mermaid sat up, glancing up at him without a glare. Kind of... innocent now.

"How long have I been sleeping, human?" The mermaid stared across the frigid Gulf now, his eyes seeming to try to search for something. It was then when Viktor realized the color of his eyes. They gave him a nostalgic feeling, like he'd seen them before... they were that same beautiful cinnamon brown. In the light of day they gave this odd sparkle of ambition. Viktor could feel a slight blush creeping over his cheeks. He didn't know why. He was just staring at the mermaid for a bit. Realizing that this man before him was actually just...

Really hot.   


This time when he spoke, Viktor stumbled over his words a bit. "Well... I-I don't know... I j-just woke up with y-ou b-y my side and everything... uh..." At that moment Viktor had the slight temptation to say, "Come here often??" with some weird seductive face. But he resisted in both the knowledge that nobody would find that attractive and that he hadn't really ever had a real boyfriend. A lot of this interaction between them was just Viktor staring at this hot dude, and the hot dude being the oblivious one. The mermaid was still looking at something, trying to think, when he suddenly seemed to hit some sort of realization. He muttered something under his breath, too quiet for Viktor to hear. But around them, the snow was beginning to pile up. Viktor was starting to just tire of being here with this weird creature, honestly, and hoped that he would wake up soon. He had a bad feeling about all of this. Turning around to go, Viktor felt slightly shocked when he felt a hand on his wrist holding him back. "Wait, human. I must ask you something first."

Viktor turned his head a bit. "Oh?"

"Yes." The mermaid gave Viktor a dead stare. "You do know that you're not actually dreaming, right?"

And with that, Viktor passed out on the snowy beach.

~~~

_"Alisa. Please... don't go. I need you here--Viktor needs you here!"_

_My wife was still packing her things, shoving them into a small suitcase. She chuckled, but it was heartless. "'Please'? Honestly, what am I going to do with you? You knew that I would go if they got bad enough, and they did. So I'm leaving. And you won't be able to stop me."_

_Alisa crammed what seemed to be the last object in her possession into that bag before immediately zipping it up. She was moving faster than I'd ever seen her. Clearly she was in a desperate situation._

_She yanked her bag off of our bed before flinging it onto the ground. Nearly sprinting towards the door to leave, I blocked it with my body. "I can't let you leave, dear. You're making a mistake." To that my wife just gave me a glare of hatred. "I told you! You were supposed to keep him in check! And he told everyone! I can't be here when I have no point for living except to be mocked by who I thought were my friends because my son can't just keep his mouth goddamn shut! No, wait, my own HUSBAND can't even do that!" Alisa pushed past me, rushing into the hallway. As she reached the foyer she grabbed for her coat on the wall, pulled it on, and prepared to go. With her hand on the door handle I yelled out my final words of effort:_

_"Wait! I think there's one reason to make you stay!" From behind me I heard feet shuffling out into the hallway. Viktor._

_Alisa simply turned her head back slightly, a smirk curving her lips. "Oh?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god that literally took me like 4 days
> 
> except i was literally just sitting around doing nothing so i just decided to work instead. I get writer's block literally every ten minutes, so I just kind of pushed through and made... something.
> 
> also: this entire chapter is sponsored by**it really actually isnt** thai noodles and Ollie MN  
> lol
> 
> once again please dont hate me


	3. Cinnamon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *snorts*
> 
> IF YOU'RE CURIOUS WHICH YOU'RE NOT THEN I'LL JUST TELL YOU THAT NO MATTER HOW WEIRD THIS LOOKS RIGHT NOW THIS IS ALL PLANNED
> 
> #smart
> 
> #notreally

Afterglow: A YOI Story: 

Chapter 3: Cinnamon  
____________  
When Viktor woke, he felt like he hadn't actually woken up yet.

Which made sense, because he was awake... but also not really. He was aware of things, could see the darkness. But at the same time, he knew that he was also asleep.

At that time, he started wondering if a lot of people have odd dreams like that often. Just... in the middle of reality and nightmares. Even though Viktor felt slightly unsettled at that thought, since he knew he was also there, he felt a bit comforted as well. Sometimes it was just better to be asleep than awake. At least at night, humans have a sort of weird escape from the real world. No matter how horrifying it can get for them sometimes. Here, in his own little head space, it was strangely warm... almost nostalgic. Like most dreams are. Confusing jumbles of memory and thought that only really come together in a sensical matter about half the time. Here, in his own mind, Viktor didn't have to really think about anything. Just that he was asleep.

But eventually, even though this place was nice, Viktor knew he would have to wake up sometime. Otherwise he would just wake up later. Usually to wake up from dreams all he had to do was think about waking until he did. It was simple like that. Instead, however, when he was here, he couldn't seem to wake up. He was... stuck in his own head. He could feel his body moving in reality--he could feel the soft touch of sheets, the smell of must. But somehow, he knew that he wasn't in his bedroom. Viktor knew that he was... somewhere else.

What had happened the day before...?

Before Viktor could even try and think about it, he could see the dream's darkness starting to fade. He could see light shining through some windows behind him. As he finally woke up he got one last flash of thought across his mind: the image of the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen.

They were like a doe's, all warm and soft. So innocent and inviting, like a good memory on someone's face. Hazel. They reminded Viktor of a holiday somehow. And before Viktor knew it, he was awake.

But not in his own bedroom, like he thought.

Instead, he was laying on his old bed, from childhood. In his old room. The room that had been completely locked shut after he moved out, supposedly never to be opened again. But now, Viktor was hit with a wave of memories. Dust had settled on everything in there. His feet were just barely at the edge of his bed frame, like when he was a teen. The same homemade quilts covered his sheets. And his curtains were still a pasty white. The sun was setting far in the horizon now, and Viktor guessed it was about 6 P.M. It sounded right for a winter spent in Russia. The sun always set before you even got home, so you'd go home shrouded in darkness. Like his dream was.

Viktor sat up in his old bed, sighing. Even though he was home and well, something didn't feel right. And his feeling was confirmed when he felt a slight draft coming in from his left. Where his bedroom door was, sitting wide open. A direct view of the foyer and stairs stood before him. Which meant... how did he get in here? What exactly had happened?

Or... who had been in his house?

Viktor then vaguely realized he couldn't remember anything from the day before.

Except the cinnamon eyes.

~~~

Even while Yuuri was a whopping kilometer away from his home, he could still hear the faint wailing of Mari as he approached it. All around him, the freezing waters of the Gulf stung his skin. That was why he much preferred summer over winter. Autumn was usually okay, until it got so cold many of his kind could barely move around anymore. That was one of the few irritating things about living here.

It could also get pretty crowded.

The Mermaid Alliance had begun only about a century ago, which didn't really stretch that far into their overall history. Many were still getting used to the whole idea. But nobody had actually protested it yet, because it brought everyone together.

Thousands of years ago, people only knew of mermaids as being an unusual sight. Trade ships and merchants and great thieves only spoke of them when they saw one, as talking about them was seen as "bad luck". Usually mermaids were only seen for the smallest second. A flash of pure beauty and fascination to the lucky ones. But before those lucky ones could even comprehend it, they were gone. They preferred to keep to themselves, obviously. They didn't want to be hurt. So everyone was told to only observe, not act. Until...

Several centuries ago, there was a great thief named JJ.

People didn't dare speak of him anywhere, since he was so notorious they often thought that if they did their houses would be next. He was known for his crimes across the oceans, and for his great abundance of treasures. Often people would only see JJ for a few seconds, because he could run away from a scene faster than anyone else. And he was also known for what he had to resort to just to get away.

There were several times that the scene of his crimes would also be riddled with blood, evidence of just how wanted he was. The bodies of his victims were found usually at the scene or in the most conspicuous places possible. He wanted to be caught. Wanted to be thrown in jail. But nobody could ever catch him. There was a time when JJ eventually realized that people were terrified of him... except he felt he needed to do even MORE. Cause destruction across his hometown and all other cities, so he would always be known there. So, he learned of one species that wouldn't be afraid of him: the mermaids. His great heist was to kill one.

But if you look down their rocky path a few centuries, you can see what transpired then.

After learning of the mermaid's death, the mermaids immediately went into hiding for hundreds of years, occasionally some of their kind going missing. And then found dead by the humans. So when the mermaids say they hate humans, they have some good reasons to. The Altins are basic proof of all the events that had occurred.

Yuuri thought that the Gulf of Finland was crowded now only because of what the Mermaid Alliance meant. The handful of their kind all "immigrating" to the Gulf so all of them could be protected by others. It was supposed to be harmonic, but instead people still disliked it, despite all of its pros. Even Yuuri didn't like the fact that literally everyone lived here now, all bumping outside awkwardly while they swam around. As Yuuri was travelling to his family home he saw about 13 mermaids... compared to ancient times you probably wouldn't even see one for that distance. It was rare to find one of your own out there. So, as he stepped into the small cave that he had lived in all his life, he tried not to be too loud. Here, the whining was loudest. And had probably been going on for the past day and a half.

Each home a mermaid takes is special. They will find a convinient place to live, and immediately mold it into their own. They often use their own abilities to form a comfortable living space, but other times they employ the help of other mermaids so they won't have to use up too much energy. In Yuuri's case, his family's house was absolutely covered in bookshelves. Papers and small vials of ink and maps adorned the entirety of the walls. They had archives of histories, evidence of their unique past, stories of other civilizations. That made his family members and himself simply a living, breathing information archive. But also a pretty messy person in general. The state of his house in total was proof of that. So, walking into his house again wasn't really much of a surprise. It was still gross. But he wouldn't really change it, either. It seemed... homely somehow.

Oxygen filled his lungs when he swam through the doorway, his mermaid tail immediately transforming into human legs. He could feel the blast of air warm hit him, and his legs wobbled beneath him. He wasn't used to this arrangement just yet. But his father, Toshiya, insisted that it was better to become used to being a human, in case he needed to be. But Yuuri still hated the feeling of it regardless. He preferred being able to swim freely than having these silly-looking... twigs for movement. In the so-called "foyer", he immediately pulled on the clothes he had left there before going out: a sweater he had inadvertently stolen from a human on the beach and a pair of sweatpants he'd found in a Dumpster. Probably not a very sanitary place to find human clothing, but it was rare around here. And since Toshiya was doing all this to really study human behaviors, it didn't really matter where they found it anyways. They just wanted more information on humans, so their family would always be known as the mermaid archivists. Knowledge was practically in their blood.

Inside of their home was much warmer than outside, and Yuuri quickly adjusted to the environment. Around him were all their dusty furnitures and books, pieces of broken pencils and piles upon piles of empty ink vials. Most of the bookshelves and seating areas were made by Mari, who had a certain knack for that kind of thing... but speaking of Mari...

Yuuri finally figured out why Mari was whining that loudly from that far away when she came bolting from the library and deliberately crashed into Yuuri. 

"Now THAT was for totally ruining my relationship with Sara, you asshole!"

Yuuri had been tackled to the floor, his glasses swiped at and his sister nearly growling at him. He stared at Mari for probably a full 20 seconds before eventually realizing his mistakes.

Ah.

He'd forgotten that she was the reason that he'd crashed onto that beach in the first place. He had accidentally told Mari's crush, Sara, that Mari liked her, and Mari had been listening around the corner. Without knowing it, Yuuri had been chased around by Mari for about 10 minutes whilst he traveled home, until he realized that she was catching up... and then, much like a few seconds ago, he had been practically tackled onto the beach.

And then passed out. Hence Mari tackling him now. Huh.

"Oh." Yuuri said casually, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Didn't know. Sorry--" Mari started screeching at him before he could half-ass an apology he didn't mean. He was getting a bit sick of her swooning over Sara every ten seconds anyways. But he felt bad for ruining it. He obviously did not mean to. He stared at Mari straight in the eyes while she yelled at him with words so rapid he could barely understand anything. "IlikedherandIdidntknowifshelikedmeandiwasgonnaconfessandallandyouruineditandohmygodohmygodohmygoddddddddddwhyyoudothistomeeeeeeeeeee!" Yuuri chuckled nervously, about to apologize again before he heard the soft patter of feet coming from across the room. 

"Now, now. Don't fight. Yuuri said he was sorry."

His mother, Hiroko, was standing in the doorway to her office. Her smile was gentle and kind as always, although a bit bemused at the sight of her children. It was always like this around their house.

Beyond Hiroko was Yuuri's father, Toshiya, whose eyes were glued to some document. Without looking up he casually gave his children a hello before retreating into a different room. Just as usual. Too invested in personal research to really do much else. But his father loved the work, so nobody really complained about it.

"But--! Yuuri totally screwed everything up! Now I'll never have another chance with anyone ever againnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!" Mari flopped down on the uncomfortable floor and whined while Yuuri and his mom tried to ignore her. Yuuri could tell from the addition to the wrinkles on her face that she'd been here listening to Mari like this for quite some time. She was used to it, probably. So was Toshiya. His mother quietly prepared some tea while Yuuri stared at his sister in that state. He'd only been gone two days, and this is what had happened in that time? Sheesh. But nonetheless he still felt bad about being the cause of it. His head hung a bit lower than usual.

The scent of apples and nutmeg filled the room when his mother finished, and Yuuri gazed at the drink in admiration. It hadn't been until just a few years prior that they'd modernized their whole aesthetic of living. The world was changing. So obviously they'd need to change with it, regardless of species. Besides, before living like the humans, life was suddenly so much more difficult. Humans have it good.

His mother poured a glass of tea for him, and steam rose up to touch his glasses. Another thing he had to get used to. His eyesight was immediately compromised by anything heat-related nowadays. How annoying. Yuuri wiped his glasses with his shirt, staring up at the whole room with blind eyes. Another annoying thing. Everything was too blurry there without having these odd looking eye-shields. But sometimes, he kind of liked having them. They made him different from everyone else. Usually being different made him feel insecure and stupid. But when he looked at himself in the mirror with them, he felt like they actually really fit his face. They felt nostalgic somehow. Homely. It was weird.

Yuuri took a small sip of the tea while his mother simply watched his sister laying on the floor. He leaned over a bit to whisper in her ear. "Uh... she'll be okay, right?"

Hiroko gave a slight chuckle. Yuuri just stared at her with a bit of concern. "I'm starting to feel really bad and all--" Yuuri's words were halted by his mother. "Oh, don't worry. She'll be okay. She's always been like this, just give her some time." Yuuri sighed a little sigh of relief. He didn't know what to do if he'd inadvertently made his sister a wailing mess on the floor for the rest of her life. But the thought was interrupted when his mother turned her head to her son curiously, a little grin on her face. 

"So. Where were you, exactly?" Hiroko's face looked a bit coy.

Yuuri froze. He wasn't about to tell his family he'd just gotten back from erasing the memory of some random human. And that it was all his fault.

~~~

Viktor was sitting on the old couch in his house when it happened.

This... weird urge. To leave his house and go to the beach. Sure, he knew he had planned to go back there sometime, but now that he didn't remember anything from a couple of days ago he hadn't left his house since. He was honestly too confused and scared about why he was in that room, of all places. With the door sitting wide open. Too much was happening too fast, and Viktor found himself more confused than terrified. But he was still both. 

Viktor had searched his house top to bottom for some evidence to what had occurred, but found absolutely nothing. And all he actually "knew" about that day was that this image of brown eyes kept just... popping up in his head. He didn't know whose they were, obviously. Otherwise he would've bolted over to their house and started screaming or something. But no. Instead he was confined to his house by choice, staring at his phone to try and recover from the small amount of terror in his mind. He didn't tell anyone about it either, although he knew that that was exactly when terrible things happened to people in horror movies. For some reason this felt different.

He felt this feeling every time he ever got up to do anything. Take a shower, look out the window. It was as if some mysterious force was directing him towards this place. At first he tried to ignore it. But gradually he just got more and more frustrated with himself. Until, of course, he decided to stop this cycle by simply going to the damn place. Might as well get it over with. 

As he approached the small cove he'd discovered with his cousin many years prior, he got this odd feeling. The feeling of him somehow being watched. Even as he stepped beyond the snowy beach into the trees he felt it. Even when he was nearly fighting with the overgrown trees to reach the cove he felt it. But even when he looked all around himself to search for someone, nobody was there. He could almost feel himself becoming like his grandfather. Superstitious, always fearful of things that didn't exist. Viktor gave a slight shudder at that thought. He would hate to have a life like that. 

And then he reached it. The beach. It was tiny compared to Laskovvy, which was right next door, but... it was special to him as a child.

The only things really separating his cove and that beach were a jumble of trees and bushes, all crammed together. With every step he took closer to the water left another one of his boot prints in the snow. The proof he'd been there. Standing there before him was the Gulf of Finland in all it's glory, gigantic and colored much like the snow. Pale, dark blue. Almost scary this time of year. So cold that if you were to even step one foot in you'd be sure to get frostbite. It reminded him of something desolate. Alone. But even as he stood on this beach, with the urge to come here gone, he still felt like he was being watched. And now kind of stupid for coming here. Nothing except chilled air and water existed. Except...

The hair on the back of his neck stood up when he noticed it. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.

Something in his mind clicked, and when he thought about that day forgotten, he was beginning to... remember things, too. Just small flashes of memory. Words spoken. Bits of thought strewn about. He couldn't really even put together anything comprehensive. And his confusion got even stronger when he thought about those eyes, too. What the hell was happening to him?? 

Before he could piece anything together or even decide to leave Viktor found himself with his eyes widened and his jaw slightly agape. There, sitting on a rock and staring out at the waters was a mermaid. Quiet, still. No wonder he didn't see it sooner. The gasp that escaped Viktor's lips immediately made him cover his mouth as the mermaid quickly flipped his head around, midnight black hair being thrown about his face. Soft, amber eyes stared at him in shock. The same eyes that for some reason had embedded themselves in Viktor's mind.

When the rush of memories hit Viktor, they hit him hard. Suddenly remembering everything that happened on a day you have completely forgotten can change you a bit. 

Viktor suddenly knew everything that had happened. Waking up. Seeing this same mermaid. Fainting. And being in that dark space. And now, seeing that mermaid plunge into the freezing water so fast that Viktor barely saw it. His eyes darted around the Gulf, searching for him, but coming up empty. He had run away. Or so Viktor thought, right before he witnessed a dark figure sprinting directly towards him in the water. He wasn't running away. He was chasing him. When Viktor had that thought all he knew was that he had to leave. To ditch this whole situtation. And suddenly he very desperately wished that he hadn't remembered anything. He would've rather just lived with the fact that one day of his life was a gaping hole then see this. Just before the creature reached him, however, Viktor was already scrambling away back through the trees, with the knowledge that mermaids exist and so much else that he knew he was probably too deep in it now to ever leave.

He did note one thing, however, as he was pushing past everyone on the sidewalks and stumbling when the key was in the lock:

What a cute thing that mermaid was.

~~~

Yuuri must've been staring at the cove for hours before realizing what he was doing. Just... sitting there and basking in his mistake. How dumb. How immature. How silly. He'd been taught all his life to never, ever, under ANY circumstances let a human see him. And now he had not only let one see him but the human now knew something that nobody else knew.

And another mistake: The human remembered everything.

How stupid. How annoying. How... was he going to fix this?

He should've paid more attention. He should've realized that it wasn't his bedroom. He should've closed the door when he left. But he couldn't. He felt pity for that human, regardless of their past with Yuuri's species. His life was... messy. And sad. Full of pride and yet lonliness at the same time. Why, WHY didn't he act as an example? Why didn't he just do it all right? Now he was in such a difficult situation... that of having to track this human down and erase the knowledge from his mind, once again. He hated being near humans. They're interesting, but curious. And they have committed so many atrocities on his kind that he found it difficult to ever think of them in a positive way. But now he was stuck, and the only real solution he could think of right then was to catch him.

"Catch him"... also known as intruding on this human's personal life by becoming close to him and then seizing this perfect opportunity to erase everything about his kind.

And... 'nice idea', Yuuri thought, before some time later realizing that this was quite possibly the worst idea he'd ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodddddd
> 
> So I took a week to go visit my father and then during that time I occupied myself with planning this entire story.
> 
> I constructed an entire plot out of literally two chapters that I was making up outta nothing. If you don't think that's impressive, then... Well I don't care. I do. Shush. I made character backgrounds, the PDA thingymajig, made a romantic subplot with Yurio and Minami which I'll somehow include later, I made Viktor a terrible backstory, created four groups of mermaids, and then fucking made a gay marriage. I am soooo proud of myself. And really tired because every time I wrote it was at night and I would take Benadrils and then have to fight against that for hours before I eventually passed out... not good. Don't do that. I'm allowed to do that because it's for a good cause, though ;))
> 
> I also learned something valuable about writing that everyone should know:
> 
> I think I've always been writing things. Just like, in my head or on paper. Making up little stories or something since I was a little kid. But I never actually liked the things I made. I would always drop it and then throw it in the garbage so I would never find it again, hopefully. (however there were the rare occasions in which I wouldn't do that and then read that cringe shit later, it sucked ass) But over my summer, which I spent literally doing nothing except making salmon and watching Parks and Rec, I discovered YOI again. It'd been two years since I'd seen it last, and I started to remember just how excited I was when they came out. You get this really, like, excited feeling in your mind, all giddy. And I had completely forgotten it existed. Slipped my mind. So when I finally remembered I spent the entire summer exploring the whole YOI fandom and staring at way too much fanart.
> 
> I think I spent my time well.
> 
> Anyways, I've actually only been on here for like a month. But still, for once I actually feel right about a story. That's a nice feeling to have. But then I slowly began to know why. It's because I spent so long immersed in the whole thing that I actually started writing it correctly. So, if you ever want to write something and do it well, then you need to emphasize with your characters. I suppose you have to get to know them? Even though they're not real? I don't really know. I just know that Yuuri is god's infinite treasure.
> 
> Note: This chapter is sponsored by-- (its not really))
> 
> Dentist appointments, cookies n' cream ice cream, my homemade chicken fried rice but I don't wanna cook chicken so its sausage instead and its disgusting af, my sister taking the computer, and also Buttercup by Hippo Campus about 1000 times over, which made my sister want to cry
> 
> Also watching Brandon Rogers very offensive videos and Life of Boris cooking. Good day, lads.
> 
> ALSO::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: i youve ever seen the movie Ponyo on the Cliffs then you know what I mean:
> 
> I was imagining Yuuri's house to be like Ponyo's. Don't question how badly I made it sound instead. If you would like an explanation, which you probably don't: Yuuri used to live uncomfortably in their 'house' until his father realized he needed to understand human behaviour more. Thus he enlisted the help of his daughter Mari to construct a home much like that of a humans...
> 
> And why would Mari be able to help? you probably arent asking?? Well you'll probably know in the next chapter, i have no absolute fucking idea what im doing and will be gone for a while this week and want to upload another chapter like tomorrow when i havent even started. yay


	4. Discretion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *snorts once more*
> 
> lol i spent literally like 10 hours writing this
> 
> but then again i was rushing it and i cant ever focus so can you blame me
> 
> Yuuri gets suspicious and Viktor gets a creeper.

Afterglow: A YOI Story

Chapter 4: Discretion  
____________

By the time Yuuri arrived home it was already about 11 pm, and he found it strange that so much time had passed. He knew that he'd seen the human at about 10 am, but after that he couldn't remember what he had really done. He mostly recalled staring at the footprints on the beach as they were quickly covered up by the fresh snow. Yuuri otherwise forgot the rest of it. He was probably just sitting and wallowing in the fact that he would have to go get a goddamn human now. And although Yuuri found them quite interesting, he also possessed a certain annoyance with them now. It wasn't the human's fault he knew mermaids existed. Just Yuuri's. He would have to conduct a quick, effective plan to acquire the information and leave before the human noticed. Unless, of course, he had told a whole bunch of people. If he had then Yuuri honestly didn't know what to do with himself anymore. Maybe he would have run away?

The familiar feel of warmth seemed to emanate from his house, and he stepped in eagerly. After that he immediately stuck his head around the wall separating the doorway from the rest of the house to see if his sister was going to tackle him again. When he didn't see or hear anything, he slipped on whatever was sitting in the doorway and tried not to be too loud. Was everyone asleep or something? Where were they?

Yuuri ducked through the foyer into the sitting area, where, once again, it was consistently a huge mess. He swore that nothing in that house would ever be clean. Yuuri sighed heavily, his glasses falling down to the tip of his nose. No noises were coming from anywhere. Not even the sounds of Toshiya scribbling something furiously in his study. But as he strolled into what the humans called a "kitchen", he saw the remains of what seemed to be a recipe sitting on the counter. Yuuri squinted, pushing his glasses up and trying to read it. Instead he found that he couldn't because it was in Russian. But why would someone in this house have a Russian recipe laying on the counter? Yuuri could really only read a few words of the language, but before he tried to decipher it with his limited abilities he heard the loudest crash possibly ever come from within the study.

Yuuri flinched, slowly but surely turning his head left to the doorway into the study. He knew what happened in horror movies. You're supposed to exit the house immediately and move. But Yuuri moved to the cause of the sound before he could really think, peeking his head into the door. And sitting on the floor in heap of stuff was his mother Hiroko, laughing silently to herself. It was this sight that made Yuuri question if his mother had gone insane at this very moment. He stared straight at her for a moment before opening the door all the way. "Ehh... What happened?" Yuuri asked her.

Hiroko flipped her head around at the noise, obviously startled. Had she not already noticed him? 

She didn't say anything just yet, but simply lifted herself off the floor and sighed contentedly. Then she leaned down to the ground and picked up the various objects strewn about. What, no explanation??

Hiroko was placing the fallen things back on the shelves lining the walls when she spoke. "I'm embarrassed, Yuuri. I really didn't think you'd be home yet..." Yuuri simply raised an eyebrow before realizing how odd he was acting. Usually, if he saw his mother lying on the floor he would've gone to help, all flushed and confused. But at the moment he was still pretty mad at himself for letting the human get away. He probably would be for quite some time now. But the fact that it made him different scared Yuuri a little bit. That was why he knew he had to fix it. Although, the way he was acting now, completely oblivious to everything and acting funny, he sort of liked for some reason. Maybe his new encounter had made him stronger?

Realizing his difference, Yuuri scrambled to help his mother. He tried to shuffle the fallen objects back to where they were, but to no avail. It was his father's study, so the small room was surrounded by bookshelves filled to the brim with learning and quills and old bottles of stuff and some chairs. Absolute chaos. But the exact embodiment of his father. As Yuuri placed the things back he noticed that some of the objects had gone... missing? At the sight of it Yuuri stiffened. "Mom, ehh... are you alright?" 

Hiroko looked up at him with a gentle nod. "Sorry. I was just a bit startled. I accidentally knocked everything over..." Hiroko gave a nervous smile. Odd. If she did something like this she would either be frustrated or simply laughing. Whatever. Things were going wrong all over the place nowadays. 

Without saying much else Hiroko walked past her son in the doorway and waltzed straight to her room. What...? Yuuri sighed. Even though the way his mother was acting was weird to him, Yuuri really had to focus on getting the human. If he didn't, it could mean something absolutely shameful and terrible for his kind. That prospect didn't make Yuuri too happy, honestly. So, staring at her door one last time and being confused, Yuuri finally shuffled into his room.

His family often found it odd how his room was pretty clean compared to their own. It only had one bookshelf compared to Toshiya's eight, had a dignified number of shelves, and not 20 million of them. In the corner was what humans called a "bed". How odd. Couldn't they just sleep on the floor? When he got on that thing, it was comfortable. But it felt so weird at the same time. He didn't really need to sleep like that. He could really just fall asleep anywhere if he thought about how boring his father's history talks were. He only really found the modern lives of humans interesting, not the past. If something already happened, then what was the point of looking back at it, much less droning on and on about it? Yuuri sighed for probably the 50th time as he sat down on the edge of the "bed". 

His eyes wagered between sleep or not. It was pretty dark outside. And his mother wasn't making any noises. His father was undoubtedly out stalking some random human on the small cove, and his sister must've been bothering some little kids. Yuuri gave a slight smile at that, but couldn't really muster a full one. His worries must've been resurfacing somehow. Like, what if he got caught? Caught touching or speaking or even acknowledging a human? What would happen? What kind of shame would be bring to his family then?

Yuuri groaned involuntarily at the thought of that. Torture.

But something, at the same time, tugged at Yuuri's heart. Maybe determination? He REALLY would rather not be mocked or punished by anyone, and he sure as hell wasn't gonna let that happen. And once again, at that thought, Yuuri could feel the change in his personality.

Things were getting too complicated...

~~~  
Yuuri was flopped down on the "bed" when his father came home. He estimated that it was about midnight. Pretty late for a full day of stalking random people.

He had been busy reading one of the several history books in his room whenever he heard his father say he was home. Even though he still found history slightly annoying, it was perfect to keep him from having a full-on panic attack from worry. He was starting to get so confused and frustrated with himself he couldn't even read anymore, the words all blurring together in one odd motion. He shut it before it could get any worse.

His father, Toshiya, was strolling around their house, obviously carrying a large array of something. He could tell by the slight shuffling of feet and groaning. At that Yuuri bolted up from his "bed" to help his father before he collapsed or something. 

Yuuri peeked his head around the corner in slight concern only to see his father wasn't holding anything except his research notebook. Either way he rushed over to him still questioning his long absence. 

Toshiya smiled when he saw his son, but it was a tired one. He'd probably been out all day, like Yuuri had been while yelling at himself in frustration. The grin he gave seemed a bit... pained. "Dad... are you okay?" Yuuri gave his father a concerned stare, to which his father didn't respond. Like his mom.

All his dad did was casually stroll over to his study, put his materials back in his office and then bolt inside of his bedroom, where Hiroko was. Yuuri had tried to follow but was cut off by the door being shut in his face. Yuuri frowned unhappily. What, exactly, was going on?

But instead of trying to figure out anything anytime soon, Yuuri sighed and went back to his room. On the "bed". And he stayed there with no ideas in his head on how to fix everything. And, he was also pretty confused on what his parents were up to, but didn't want to say anything about it. He might bother them. But as he sat on the "bed" worrying, he heard his sister come home too, immediately rushing into her room. Well at least he had one typical thing from his sister. She didn't really enjoy talking to people except her family and Sara. And speaking of Sara, Yuuri still seriously didn't know what had become of the two of them. Mari hadn't talked about it. Nobody asked, either. Yuuri felt guilty about being the cause of all this.

But it his confusion changed when he heard his father's voice cut through the walls. It was very soft. Unlike him. And he was speaking to his wife. At this Yuuri immediately pushed his head towards the wall, curious. They were acting funny.

He listened while Toshiya was in the middle of a sentence. "--it does not make any sense..." A soft reply from his mom. Then Toshiya again. "We need to be care--" Hiroko interrupted him with something. Yuuri knew that no matter how hard he strained he wouldn't be able to hear her. Her voice was simply too soft. His father sighed suddenly. "Yes yes, I know... but we really should report this. I mean--" The voices stopped completely. He heard his mother shush her husband, then speak. "We'll talk about this tomorrow. Don't worry." Then a sigh from Toshiya and them turning over in their "bed". They had stopped.

What exactly had happened today? Apparently it was serious enough for them to not even tell their own children. Yuuri leaned back away from the wall.

Something was going on.

~~~

After the mysterious talking-through-walls debacle that happened last night, Yuuri was getting kind of suspicious. They acted like nothing had happened at all. Maybe they should've been more careful about where they spoke about it?

Either way, Yuuri tried not to think too much about it. He obviously had different things to worry about. Like, say, solving everything before he would inevitably break down in tears and frustration. Which would happen. So as he watched his father leave for the day, he was suddenly struck with some inspiration. 

His family was raised to be intellectuals. To be observing and intelligent. And most of all, serve their kind with knowledge of modern-day humans so nothing terrible happened to them. But looking at his father, who was a perfect example of just that, made Yuuri wonder what kinds of things he could do with knowledge of the human he was trying to get. Knowledge was in their blood, along with the powers of the mind.

Ever since Yuuri was a small child he'd been told about how the Katsuki's were known for their abilities. Respected, almost feared. But it wasn't until Yuuri was about eight years of age that he found he could not only read others' minds but also erase.

It was upsetting to him.

He didn't want to read people's minds. He really didn't want to erase. That meant hurting others. And he hated the thought of that. But sometime he knew he would have to eventually use them, otherwise... well, it wouldn't have a great outcome. So he managed to avoid using them too much throughout his childhood.

He didn't want to hurt others. Because hurting other people meant he would also get hurt behind them. And most of all, he would hurt himself. It was the same with Mari. They were surprisingly alike. But at the same time, incredibly different. She had developed something Yuuri wanted but at the same time really didn't want. Mixed emotions. 

Mari had groaned when she learned she had telekinesis. She made it sound like some sort of disease, being able to move objects around with her mind. But she definitely wasn't bullied by other kids her age. She was only 11. Not a good time to get one. Other kids around her could only do small things, like swim faster or probably boast about themselves more efficiently. On Mari's side, though, she was kind of right to be annoyed by it. It meant people would ask her to do the stupidest things in her opinion.

Like whenever Toshiya decided on human-izing the house up. Mari wanted to help, but at the same time she was also being forced to install human objects and a heating system into their house, so she really wasn't very pleased with it. Although the end result she was pleased with, she had to spend months basically trapped in a weird place with only an instruction manual and a ton of materials. So she was inclined to not like having telekinesis in the first place.

Yuuri, on the other hand...

He wished he could do that instead of knowing people's thoughts. Every time he entered a room he would immediately push into someone's mind and read it involuntarily. Which made him shriek and run away. Sometimes there are thoughts you REALLY don't need to hear...

His father waltzed out the door without a second thought that morning, not knowing that his son was basically aspiring to be him. Aspiring to be what Toshiya was doing, which was learning information about humans.

And that was when Yuuri knew that he was going to essentially start stalking his human.

Which, of course, was a TERRIBLE IDEA.

There was only one problem, though: Yuuri was absolutely horrified at the prospect of having to go outside with a million humans and find only one. But he accepted the challenge. He would not be humiliated and embarrassed for the rest of his life, and if this was what he had to do to stop that from happening, he would do it.

But then again, it was a TERRIBLE IDEA.

~~~

Viktor spent most of his time nowadays distracting himself. Whether it be his phone or cleaning his house or talking to someone, he always had something to do. Anything to get away from the memory of that mermaid chasing his ass.

He knew when the mermaid started chasing him that he had stepped into something bad. A situation or a person that should definitely not be touched. And he honestly had no idea what to do now. Probably because one does not expect to meet a mermaid on a beach after passing out and then get chased by him. His mind was constantly flustered, and he often found his thoughts drifting back to that beach. No, no, no. The more he thought about it the more he got curious, and that really sounded like a bad thing. The last time he got curious it turned the absolute other way for him, so now he stayed as far back from it as he could. 

So instead of getting curious, he spent time conversing with either his old friend Christophe Giaccometti or a new up-and-coming skater named Phichit Chulanont. He found that both of them were pretty big talkers--Phichit especially. At every chance he got he would send Viktor a picture of anything he was doing or anyone he was speaking to. Huge distraction. And for that, Viktor was grateful. Chris, on the other hand, mostly spoke about how every time he practiced skating he would either get really drunk beforehand or come on the ice. Typical. And another huge distraction.

But in those moments where they were not available for a casual chat or sleeping, something ached deeply inside of Viktor's heart. He knew that what he was doing wasn't healthy. He was avoiding something that actually happened, and shoving it away. It reminded him of the several times he did just that in that past. But now, he was an adult. He had to face things head-on, not distract himself.

So one day he finally mustered enough courage to walk the streets of St. Petersburg again. He didn't expect anything except a break from everything bad he was doing to himself. But instead, he started noticing... weird things.

"Weird things"... like how with every step he took, another person would take it with him. And when he turned his head around in confusion, they quickly and quietly slipped away before Viktor could get a good look. All he saw was a flash of black, and then every other person on the streets. He definitely thought it was suspicious, but didn't decide to investigate it. It could be nothing, after all. After his strange encounter with a mermaid he found himself being a lot more jumpy. Which... is granted. You're inclined to be jumpy. But Viktor grew increasingly jumpy when he found that this... figure was following him wherever he went. He'd had weirdos follow him before. But this one seemed different somehow.

They were fast.

Too fast for a human being to be. When Viktor turned his head even the slightest, they would hide behind a corner immediately, only peeking a part of their head out. What the hell? Even when he tried to lose them by bolting down the street or rushing into some random shop, they were right behind him. And his little experiments with them only ended with him knowing someone was truly following him. They were discreet, obviously, just not discreet enough for Viktor to not notice them. 

As he walked home that day after a full day of feeling incredibly creeped out Viktor couldn't help but sigh heavily. Great. Another problem to deal with. He added the incidents of the day to his mental checklist of things to get a grip of. Too much was happening, too fast. But as he was walking home, he saw that the person wasn't following him anymore. They were gone. To that Viktor inhaled sharply, slightly relieved. Thank god they wouldn't be following him all the way home. But what had made them stop before his house, anyways?

Viktor also noticed something else:

Anytime Viktor would turn to face this mystery person they would always hide, sure... but there was a way that they hid that caught his eyes. Their legs were shaking. Terrified. But of what? Viktor didn't intend to hurt anyone. Maybe they didn't know that?

Whatever their reasons for following Viktor, they were scared. Badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol
> 
> I'm uploading early because I'll be gone for a bit. Things are happening that I do not want to be involved in, lol.
> 
> I'll try to upload every week, I won't make a specific schedule or anything, haha.
> 
> Also if you would want to give some feedback that would be nice. Nobody is telling me anything... ehh.
> 
> This week's chapter is sponsored by: (its not, christ))
> 
> The most popular YOI fanfic I've ever seen called Dearly Beloved, read it. Kriesler's Liebeslied, and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0VsCaUk30Y
> 
> and bloopers from Friends. Don't question it.
> 
> ehh.


	5. Lost & Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *snorts again*
> 
> Viktor confronts his creeper, but not everything always goes according to plan...
> 
> lol
> 
> hope u like it

Afterglow: A YOI Story:

Chapter 5: Lost & Found  
_____________

It'd been several days since the whole "stalking" routine had begun, and Viktor was growing quite tired of it.

As anyone would.

Nobody really gets used to having your every move most likely recorded and watched. As he suspected. Either that or he was just becoming too creeped out to really do much of anything anymore.

Which was also plausible.

But anyhow, Viktor had been spending his time wisely by not going outside that often. He didn't want to go to a place where he knew he was being followed, regardless of whether or not staying inside all day was boring. And no, he had not called anyone about it. Something odd inside of him told him not to. He didn't know what, exactly. But as far as he could tell he wasn't going to. 

Not only had Viktor been getting watched, but he was also observing as well. The way that they walked, their basic features, if he could get just barely a flash of some. Their entire demeanor. Which gave Viktor the feeling that he was also stalking them. But he didn't mind. He was watching intently anytime they just so happened to pop up near him on the street or in some shop. And that seemed to give him the upper hand in the whole thing. At least to him.

But what Viktor just really needed to know was who they were. That was all. Nothing else. With that info maybe he could finally rest easy for a bit.

But that thought was soon erased when Viktor suddenly realized that he had run out of food.

~~~  
Yuuri, on the other hand...  
~~~

Yuuri knew it. He knew it. He knew that what he was doing was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. And yet he was far too deep in it to stop now. He didn't even remember what he was thinking when he had begun. Just stupidity, probably. So now, as he was once again wallowing in the fact of how incredibly STUPID he was being, he was also staring at the front door. 

His father was going to come home soon.

Toshiya had been out on a 3-day long "expedition" as he'd called it, but didn't say where. No updates or a location. He'd left behind only a note saying he would be gone for a while, and taken some of his stuff with him. His study was oddly empty of garbage, at least temporarily. For some reason seeing that gave Yuuri chills. Weird stuff was happening.

While Toshiya was gone, his mother Hiroko had also been acting off. She actually started acting like Yuuri nowadays. Jittery, eyes wandering everywhere. Any loud sound making her jump when usually she would just shrug and walk off. Before she started doing this weird stuff Yuuri could've sworn that if she saw a ghost she'd probably just say hello to it and give it tea. But then again, she definitely wasn't doing any of that now. Now, it was simply her jumping around.

She also sat at the door a lot. Staring, waiting for her husband to return. At first, Yuuri thought this was because Hiroko missed him. But she was too independent for that. That was unlikely. And Yuuri was proved wrong when he actually did come back. It was late at night again, like all the others. Roughly midnight. Hiroko had been sitting at that door all day, like a statue. Her eyes fixed on the handle all determined, like she was preparing to go to war or something. Thus, with that odd look on their mother's face, neither Yuuri nor Mari did anything to question it. They just kind of sat and watched her watch the door handle while sipping tea. Occasionally Hiroko would ask for a cup if she got thirsty, but not for anything else. They delivered, and she only continued to stare.

Sometimes when their mother was staring at the door handle like this Yuuri seriously started to question her mental health. But other times Yuuri kind of suspected that something was just really really wrong. Like the mysterious conversation through the walls several days prior. Shoving those thoughts out of his mind, however, he focused on his father coming back.

Toshiya's face was... worn.

He looked like he'd been through some sort of odd torture on his way back. His eyes were half-closed, the usual light brown turned into crusty dirt. His shoulders were slouched with disappointment, a frown taking the place of some assurance. He did not say anything. Instead, he simply set his things down and wearily flopped down on the chair Hiroko was sitting on while waiting, and immediately fell asleep.

Yeah. Not exactly typical of him.

What the hell was going on...?

~~~

Soon after Yuuri asked himself this question, his mind went back to what HE was doing. Which was, of course, following an unsuspecting human around and collecting data on him. 

At least, he hoped that the human was unsuspecting.

It was soon after Yuuri first started doing this that he realized again and again how dumb it was, yet there really wasn't much he could do. He was pretty sure the human knew he was being followed. He kept bolting into random places and checking over his shoulder every five seconds. Or was he just crazy? Either way, he was in a very sticky situation now, and honestly had no ideas on how to get out of it.

This all started late at night, midnight to be exact. In fact, it was right after Yuuri had listened in on his parents' whispering conversation just next door when he believed he had just thought up the most brilliant, incredible, amazing plan to obtain the memories of this human. Which, of course, was not. It was awful. Absolutely awful. If one of his family members heard about his plan they'd probably fall over and faint because of how terrible it truly was. If a mermaid outside the house just passing by heard about it they'd probably stick their head in the door to scream about how bad it was. If even a goddamn fish swam by to run away from a bigger fish he'd probably jump through the front door just to flop around on the floor to make his point of how bad it was before he died. If--

Yes, it was bad.

There are a million metaphors to say how terrible his plan was. Yuuri was the sole witness to that.

But then...

With a sudden burst of adrenaline and stupidity, Yuuri set out to find out just who this human was. To figure out what made them come to the beach, and most of all, to simply erase the memory.

It wasn't until later that Yuuri realized he was probably having too much fun with all of this scheming. You're not particularly supposed to. And he realized that whenever he actually found out what that human's life was truly like.

He didn't like what he found.

~~~

Yuuri had actually read about this human before.

He was in the human history books.

His father used to rant about famous ones like him, about their accomplishments and lifestyles. For whatever reason. Sometimes he claimed that he admired them, although Yuuri knew that wasn't really true. Even though Toshiya found humans quite fascinating, it was difficult to "admire" them with their species' backgrounds. And sometimes Toshiya's eyes gave off a glint of wonder as he spoke of them. Like they were his heroes or something. Yuuri always gave him a look. If he disliked the humans, then why did he talk about them like that?

But what Toshiya really loved to speak of was their traditions. The sports they played, the languages they passed down from one generation to the next. He mostly spoke about the stars in their sports, though.

Viktor Nikiforov was one.

Legend of male figure skating. Beautiful ice dances, full of impact and passion. The best looks, the most delicate of eyes. Hair colored like the clouds. Known for his jumps and step sequences on the ice. And known to always surprise his audience.

He was perfect.

At least, that was what Toshiya said about the human. Yuuri didn't fully agree with all of his opinions. They were still humans, no matter their achievements. 

But Yuuri was very surprised that this was the human that was on the beach, the cause of all of this. Yuuri knew that he looked familiar... but couldn't quite place it. But now he had been following one of the most famous humans out there. What a bad situation he was in...

Yuuri learned a bit more about this human, however. Not just what he had done. Sometimes, for the briefest moment, some of the saddest things would pass through the human's mind, and Yuuri felt a horrible twinge of guilt for all of this. This human's life... it was sad. His childhood was lonely and devoid of happy emotion. Only exhaustion and being sad. Yuuri wondered what types of things had happened to him. He didn't want to pry too deeply, just... learn. But suddenly that made him feel even dumber. What the hell was he thinking when he'd started all of this?

Yuuri's frustration with himself didn't end there. In fact, it lasted, right up until he got caught.

~~~

Viktor left his house in quite a huff, mad at himself for running out. How did he not even notice? The whole goal of all of this was simply to sit inside all day and maybe possibly it would stop. It didn't, obviously. Viktor didn't know what he was thinking. He should've just gone outside.

Luckily, a Russian market was just a few blocks away--but the streets were absolutely jammed with people. Russian New Year was approaching quickly, and celebrations were already alight. Russia's flag waved in the chilled wind with a fierce air to it, and people were smiling and laughing as they spoke to one another. Cafes and shops were lined with people who were out with friends or lovers. When Viktor passed by a cafe, though, he felt something in his heart shift a little. A couple was sitting together on a bench, giggling about something and staring at each other with pure joy in their eyes. Love. Something that Viktor had never really had any luck at.

Viktor was ashamed to say that he'd never kissed anyone before. So he didn't. He was simply waiting for someone he'd want to kiss, not someone random. Maybe he was just being silly?

But anyhow, he felt a bit stupid and jealous when the couple went in for a kiss, still smiling at each other. Viktor frowned. This really wasn't what he needed to see right now. He shuffled past the flouncy couple and tried to make it down the street without being recognized by anyone. Although he liked being spoken to by fans, he didn't need to deal with one right now. It would cause a riot. Viktor stared at the ground, feeling the faint touches of snow creeping across his skin. The road had already been absolutely covered the night before. Why so much? However, his shuffling and staring down ended whenever he saw it. No, them. Waiting.

His... creepy stalker? He supposed he could call it that.

He saw them from the corner of his eye, which made him shuffle more until he finally broke out of the huge crowd. Maybe if he shuffled fast enough they'd lose him. But no. They remained at perfect distance, staying only a few meters away. So precise. This annoyed Viktor to no end. He almost felt his eyebrow twitch.

He was getting too frustrated with this whole thing. So, in order to potentially lose them, Viktor was right in front of the store when he instead bolted into the alleyway next to it. He started walking, hoping that he could just go around the other side and get there. Of course, though, the figure didn't stop or lose Viktor. They walked behind Viktor from about 4 meters, so conspicuously. So obvious. Which made Viktor even more annoyed with this.

So he stopped walking. They did too.

Viktor flipped around, slight defiance on his face. It probably would've been angrier if he wasn't so terrified of talking to them.

"What, exactly, do you want?" To this they flinched. But didn't say anything. Around them, the dark shadows of buildings crept upwards to a setting sun, giving an eerie glow to it all. 

Instead of speaking, they turned around and started walking towards Viktor. And then past him, into the street. So casually. They might as well have stuck their hands in their pockets and slouched. But it wasn't like Viktor was having any of it. Was this weird psycho really going to just walk past him like that? Hell no. They had been annoying him for two weeks!

And that was when, without thinking, Viktor casually broke into a sprint. And started chasing his weird stalker. How the tables had flipped. The person was caught off guard, but remainded calm enough to notice the pissed off dude booking it after them. Thus they started booking it into the road.

People were practically swarming around this one restaurant, trying to either get in or protesting. Viktor couldn't really tell. But if they were protesting he really didn't know what was so wrong with the place. Probably not the food or the workers. Maybe the building itself? Viktor tried to gather his thoughts. He really wasn't thinking straight anymore. And he shouldn't be thinking about restaurant protests. He was chasing a creeper around the block.

This person was really fast, though. Like, REALLY fast. Even faster than Viktor, and he was a professional athlete. They both weaved their way through the crowd, to the surprise and displease of people standing there. The creeper seemed kind of wobbly, though. Like he'd just gotten feet or something. It was odd to see this really fast creeper/stalker not even have proper motor skills. However, the whole chasing fiasco abruptly ended when the person had sprinted into another alley. And then immediately collapsed on the ground.

Viktor stood at the entrance to the alley, slightly stunned. He hadn't expected that. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he could see the figure laying on the ground, their chest rising up and falling with these quick, irregular movements. Their breath was coming in short, fast little bursts, and their legs were curling towards them. Hyperventilation. If this was going to happen, then why had they even run in the first place? And also, were they doing this the whole time? 

Their clothes mainly consisted of the color black. Way to be inconspicuous.

But a hoodie was covering their face, to which Viktor stumbled over to. He really shouldn't have run that much. Viktor was honestly confused as to what to do then. He was caught between wanting to help this person stop hyperventilating and to uncover his creep. He then realized that helping them wouldn't really "help", considering they would probably just stress out more. So instead he found himself leaning down, and picking up the hood of the jacket to see...

The eyes. Like nutmeg and cinnamon and a holiday. Warm and soft, gentle with remorse. Full of innocence and something else Viktor couldn't quite place. But they were widened with fear now at the sight of Viktor's face, their pupils instantly pushing back down to a tiny dot and growing larger. But it was him. The mermaid. The damn mermaid that had followed him, and made him forget. They could fucking walk?

But before Viktor could even get a single word out the guy was shaking, then stumbling upwards. The mermaid used the wall next to him as support, finally mustering enough strength to walk. Then book it out into another area. Viktor followed with slight guilt. He kind of worried they were doing something bad to themselves or something. He followed the mermaid through the rest of the alley and into a weird little viewing spot for the Gulf of Finland. A fence surrounded the whole place, and if you were to look down over it the water would lap at the walls. But you could see the whole Gulf from here. And the sunset casting an entire palette of colors over St. Petersburg.

Without warning, however, the mermaid stopped running. Only for a moment. And he took that moment to take off his jacket. Underneath was another layer of black. A shirt that was slightly drenched in sweat. And before Viktor could do anything, he took off that shirt too, to reveal the same chest Viktor saw on that beach. And yes, the guy was still...

Really hot.

But Viktor found himself shocked whenever the mermaid, or he supposed merman, lifted himself onto the fence around the balcony, held his jacket and shirt in his arms, and only did one other thing before jumping into the Gulf: he smiled.

And then he was gone, only leaving a tiny splash.

Viktor almost fell off the balcony while peering over the edge, trying to process what had just ocurred. A mermaid had a panic attack and then bolted into the ocean. Okay.

But then again, hadn't Viktor seen weirder? Probably not. This was one of the only things that he would ever consider really weird. And as he stared down at the waters he could just barely make out his silhouette among the waves, zipping through so easily. Like when he was chasing Viktor.

Well. After this experience Viktor was fairly terrified, but two things were for sure: 

One, he was going to get that damn mermaid once and for all.

And two, Viktor was going to get some answers.

~~~ 

Yuuri sputtered for a moment before starting to swim. He really hadn't expected to do any of that.

And he was still smiling from seeing the weird human's jaw completely drop when Yuuri had climbed onto the balcony.

But he sputtered whenever he realized how goddamn embarrassing that just was.

Dammit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! that was really cheery but ok
> 
> anyways
> 
> i finally finished. sorry i didnt upload sooner. was busy.
> 
> also: feedback would be nice. nobody is saying anything about this and im kind of getting scared
> 
> this week's chapter is sponsored by: (stfu))  
> Get Free by Lana Del Rey, salt, Sweater Weather, Avery Richardson, the urban dictionary and toothpaste.
> 
> also the song I used to make the title of this story: Paper Forest (Afterglow of Rapture) by Emmy the Great
> 
> guess the full name of this is afterglow of rapture then? idfk


	6. The Tension Is Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor kicks the shit out of some snow.
> 
> And then catches the damn mermaid.

Afterglow: A YOI Story:

Chapter 6: The Tension Is Rising  
_____________

Viktor stared out at the far expanse of land that was his backyard. Snow covered every inch of it, and a fresh layer of it was forming slowly. From out here, on the old patio, Viktor could see the whole thing.

There had been times in his past where the whole family would gather outside to chat and laugh, but now it was out of service. At least temporarily. He was trying to restore it to it's former glory nowadays, but that proved difficult. He figured that he would've been able to fix the whole thing in a day, but it was so messy from wear and tear and wind that he found himself getting frustrated with it. Every time he would clean the wooden flooring of the patio and get the chairs into working order Viktor would instead have more snow piled on top of it in the mornings. Thus frustration. 

Viktor kicked the snow out of the way this time rather than shovel it. He wouldn't have to throw out his arms. But even as he kicked the living shit out of the snow and dumped it into the backyard he couldn't help but feel really silly. He hoped that no neighbors were poking their heads out the door and catching footage of Viktor Nikiforov kicking snow around and tripping all over the place.

However, in the middle of this activity Viktor could feel that trademark touch of snow touch his cheek. There really was no hope for the stupid patio, or even for winter to end. Russian New Year was in full swing, and people weren't gonna let it go that easily. Outside you could hear the celebration echoing all throughout the streets. People running around and giggling, mostly. And flags being waved all around the city. This time of year the tourists usually dotted the place too, which made for some extra noises. Great. What Viktor needed right now--super loud annoying people and useless kicking-snow.

Viktor sighed, resigned. It'd been three days since the encounter with that mermaid. And he hadn't even seen the mermaid pop up anywhere anymore. Disappeared, but Viktor didn't think that he would be gone for long. He doubted he would simply go away after following him for 2 weeks in a row. Which meant that the mermaid would probably be coming back soon.

Or maybe he would just never see him again.

Either way, Viktor tried to distract himself once more. Mainly with the stubborn patio. Which failed, considering he probably should've thought the whole "snow falls" debacle. 

Viktor shuffled into his house, shivering as he stepped through the glass sliding door. He quickly pulled the curtain across the doorway, covering the sight of the snow now coming down in a flurry. Inside, the fire had been going for quite some time, so warmth blasted through the slightly chilled room. It was too cold outside to even open a door. He could smell the scent of the candles he had lit earlier. Cinnamon. Like the mermaid.

Viktor peeled his coat off, letting it slip down to the floor instead of hanging it up. And instead of taking off his boots somewhat gently rather he kicked them off so they flew across the room. He didn't care. He'd just have to pick it up later. Too much weird stuff had happened to him to really care about shoes anymore. Like, say, a mermaid plunging into the ocean after hyperventilating?

Viktor flopped onto that old musty couch, staring at the fire. If he couldn't even kick snow around a goddamn patio right then how was he supposed to catch a mermaid? "Catch", like a big confrontation. Not violence or anything.

But since the mermaid had had a panic attack from running and probably from being in that huge crowd... then wouldn't it be a good idea to simply be nice? 

Viktor sighed again. He didn't know what to do, a common feeling nowadays. Like the feeling of a panic attack. He knew them well. Like some sort of old friend, but one that tries to kill you.

He sighed one last time before finally settling into the couch, slightly content. And before he fell asleep he considered the notion of just trying to find the mermaid by walking around. He'd probably be somewhere. But Viktor's mind was really too hazy to notice much of anything.

Yet.

~~~

Yuuri practically fell into the front door trying to get out of his house. The only thought he had in his mind was Oh no oh no oh no as he stumbled outside.

The human was scheming. Yuuri just knew it. Or rather, suspected. At midnight. On a Tuesday. When everyone was suddenly awoken by the sound of Yuuri frantically jumping through the furniture to escape his tiny little room. He tended to make a lot of noise when stressed out. Like he was when he very abruptly considered the idea of the human scheming.

For literally no reason at all.

This time of night, the water was absolutely freezing--if a human were to touch it their finger would probably just fall off. Luckily Yuuri was a freaky mermaid with resistance to that kind of weather. Otherwise he would probably not be alive anymore. The water was murky, deep with darkness. It was difficult navigating when all you can see is black, but Yuuri just had to go upwards. He broke the surface quickly, gasping in air he didn't even need. He was half a damn fish. Yuuri figured he was spending too much time walking around like a pitiful human, after all.

Yuuri half-expected the city to be completely dark at night. But instead, he was pleasantly surprised.

There, in the distance, was St. Petersburg, bright and warm. Lights lined the streets, and colors were erupting from the city. The sun had been set for hours, but the celebration over there made it look like the sun never went down. And for a moment, Yuuri smiled. They seemed to be having a lot more fun than he was having. A smile was something that he didn't really feel a lot nowadays. He used to smile when talking to Mari or swimming, but now... he was simply too busy trying to fix the huge mistake he'd made. 

The smile vanished when he snapped back to reality. Oh, right. He was supposed to be waltzing over to the human's house or something. Yuuri felt kind of stupid for doing any of this.

Like the rest of his mistake.

He sighed heavily, plunging back into the water and starting his trek to St. Petersburg.

~~~

Viktor was having a late night.

Apparently Chris did not consider the fact that Viktor might be sleeping and started bombarding him with texts. Which then, right on cue, was Yurio texting him angry messages. Angry, not really. Just always in full caps lock and screaming. So Viktor was nudged awake rudely by two people who should've been sleeping at midnight.

Viktor was sitting in his living room, staring at the fire that had been low for quite some time. It was still snowing outside, something Viktor was getting quite tired of. There was always too much snow piled on his front stoop nowadays that he couldn't even really get out of his house anymore. So he had to kick the snow out of the way just to go get the damn newspaper. But even when he came back out a few hours later to get the mail there was another pile of snow to remove. So annoying.

Viktor thought about going back to sleep. But at the same time, he didn't really want to. He didn't want to keep procrastinating on the whole "Mermaid jumps into ocean" deal. So he prepared himself a cup of tea rather than wander to his bedroom. Viktor started thinking instead of resting. In the morning, of course, that would have its consequences.

The mermaid... why did it get so scared when he saw Viktor? And why did he run away still?

Viktor knew that he probably should've helped the mermaid or something, but it's not like he was exactly keen on helping his freaky stalker/mermaid. But still. Viktor felt guilty he had just wanted to see their face.

He let his mind wander a bit, Viktor did. He tried to conjure up some ideas for how to do anything, but came up empty. He should've just slept.

But when he was walking back to his bedroom he was suddenly hit with a rush of adrenaline when he thought up something else entirely: Should he just go look for him?

At that simple thought Viktor groaned when he realized he probably should've just thought of it sooner. How stupid.

~~~

Yuuri stumbled over his stupid human legs, frustrated. He flung himself around a store corner, heading out into the crowd of people. They were still celebrating?

Yuuri found himself walking over to the human's house somewhat involuntarily, before realizing he was going over there out of habit. He truly was a creepy stalker, wasn't he? That thought didn't make him feel any better about anything. But it was actually true. He was stalking some random goddamn human.

Yuuri knew that he was beating himself up about it. That he was just yelling at himself for some sort of validation that he was bad. He also knew that he had made a huge mistake. But it wasn't like he even knew how to make himself stop. He'd grown quite used to people being mad at him all his life, is all. And now that he wasn't in school anymore or even doing anything "bad" anymore, it still came back to haunt him sometimes. "Bad", sounds kind of stupid when compared to how colossal of a mistake he had made. 

He stopped himself from going to the human's house, though. Something just told him not to. He didn't know what.

He sighed, shuffling in the crowd the opposite direction now. He'd have to go home in that stupid freezing water. And it had taken so long for him to get here...

Except. Did he really have to go home? There were so many things happening here, and lights and celebrating...

Yuuri snapped back to reality before he let his mind run away from him. First off, there were HUMANS here, running around all weirdly. Second, the human would be fucking SLEEPING. And most of all, just WHY was he here in the first place?

He sort of knew the answer to the last question. But he asked himself another follow-up question to it before he could answer. Why did he want to see the human so badly?

~~~

Viktor woke up in the morning feeling kind of dead. He'd woken up in the middle of the night for an hour and a half, and he was pretty exhausted now. He sat up in bed, not surprised when again, it was snowing. He rubbed his eyes, trying to prep himself for the day already. He was going to get the damn mermaid. And today.

Viktor found himself showering and getting dressed before long, pulling on a long coat and a scarf. It was probably almost below zero outside, and his plan would definitely be thwarted if he froze to death. He walked outside at an early eight in the morning. He wasn't really expecting anything. He just felt oddly motivated today.

Viktor was strolling down the road when he saw it. The remnants of what was Russian New Year. It had ended yesterday, but people were still sticking around. Mostly tourists chatting about their adventures while sharing a cup of coffee. The streets were surprisingly empty today, only a few people were out this early. Like Viktor, who was waltzing around his hometown peeking his head around every corner in search of a super hot merman/mermaid with gorgeous eyes. He wasn't very ashamed to admit that he found the mermaid/merman attractive, no. It wasn't like anyone could poke around in his head... or could the mermaid?

This thought made Viktor freeze in his tracks. Oh damn. What if the mermaid could actually read his mind, and that was how he erased his memories?

Viktor shuddered at that thought, continuing his walk down the street. That would be awfully embarrassing. But wait... if the mermaid had erased his memories, then wouldn't he have had to look in his mind beforehand to see which memory to erase? Oh god. The mermaid probably knew that Viktor thought he was super hot. And that he stared at his abs for like 5 minutes in the snow. This made Viktor walk even faster, feeling a blush creep across his cheeks for the first time in a while. But he went back to his regular pace when he realized something: why was he even embarrassed by that?

Which made Viktor blush furiously, and nearly start sprinting down the road.

He kept his head down, considering that for a moment until he stopped at a familiar place. He looked up, staring directly into the face of the store he was at the other day. And sure enough, if you looked to the right, you saw the alley that he walked down.

He stared at it for a long moment... until the most unexpected occurred.

The mermaid... was there. Staring. Watching him quietly. Observing without any disguises. And when their eyes met, the mermaid flinched.

But didn't run.

~~~

Yuuri didn't know how he had gotten there, exactly.

It was after he had thought about staying in the city that he found himself wandering the streets. Lost in his thoughts about the human, why he had even come so far. If he was ever even going to go home or anything. And he also lost himself there, too. He kept thinking about the human.

But he ended up, early in the morning, in that alley. And before he even realized it, he was staring right at the human. 

Yuuri was so startled that he flinched. He started to tremble, even. He didn't know if he should run or erase his memory or what. He just knew that he was so terrified and so stressed out that he felt incredibly hopeless all of a sudden. And he froze when the human started walking towards him.

The human took strong, descisive strides towards Yuuri. The people around him didn't even notice him. 

And then the human was right in front of Yuuri. Staring, not glaring or anything hostile. Rather, he caught a slight sense of endearment. And he felt himself relaxing... somehow?

He looked at the human. And not just a glance. A real, profound look at the human. He was, in one word, stunning.

Hair colored platinum white, like the clouds and seagulls. Pale skin without blemishes. Eyes blue and comforting, like the ocean. Long eyelashes, surprisingly feminine. And a faint blush still on his face, coloring it pink. So he was stunning. Godlike. So beautiful that all Yuuri could really do was stare at him.

Until the human smiled gently, flashing a set of perfect, white teeth. His eyes glowed with something else entirely when he spoke only two words to Yuuri.

"Your name?" the human asked.

To this Yuuri froze up even more, absolutely mortified. He was so expecting the human to be mad or something, but no... he was smiling. And not even doing anything else. He REALLY didn't expect this to be happening, but he actually responded.

It was so quiet. "Yuuri Katsuki."

To this the human simply grinned, his dimples showing. And then he suddenly said, "Well, I'm sure you already know who I am, but... Viktor Nikiforov." The human--no, Viktor gave him one last smile before taking Yuuri's hand, holding it tight in his own. His expression was excited, hopeful.

As a test, Yuuri reached into Viktor's mind to see what he was thinking, but all he found was one thought: 'I can't wait to talk to him.'

Abruptly, Viktor started walking down the alley once more, Yuuri stumbling in surprise behind him. Before anything else, though, he said something new with a grin:

"Care to explain?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi
> 
> im uploading early, i got super inspired for some reason? anyways:
> 
> this week's chapter is sponsored by: (ohmygod shut up you fuckers))  
> potato peelers, Avery Richardson, hamsters, sitting on my porch wrong, me going on my porch swing at midnight with a blankie with kitties on it although it's like super boiling hot outside, Dyanafl, The White Stripes, grey's anatomy, and most of all dumping water in my keyboard accidentally
> 
> ;))


	7. Breaking The Boundary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are no longer the human and the mermaid.
> 
> They are Viktor and Yuuri.

Afterglow: A YOI Story:

Chapter 7: Breaking The Boundary  
____________

Yuuri couldn’t believe his eyes.

Right there, holding his hand and smiling gently was the human. The human that he’d followed around for a while, the human Yuuri pitied. And he was staring right into Yuuri’s eyes, expectant. Waiting for something, before he started walking. Of course, though, he walked straight out the alley that they had been in and right into the bustling, awake city of St. Petersburg.

It was quite a sight to behold. The whole city seemed to be alive this time of day, and people were running around to get to their respective careers. Tourists were chatting together in mangled Russian holding cups of coffee in their hands. While others were waltzing around the city holding bags or people jumping into cars, late for work. But the rest of the citizens were simply standing around, waiting for either the trains or casually observing the huge crowd of people. Like Yuuri was for several moments before the human pulled him through the crowd unexpectedly. 

The human--no, Viktor, held his hand tightly, giving Yuuri a little smile before slipping into the jumble of people. Yuuri didn’t want to get lost, definitely, so he followed close behind diligently. He could see everyone up close now, seeing the details of their faces and the clothes they wore. Little kids ran around the road as they giggled and talked, their small faces alight with emotion. Yuuri swore he felt Viktor grip his hand just a bit tighter when he saw them.

Aside from the energy of the city, especially when it was so early in the morning, Yuuri was slowly starting to realize exactly where he was. Right smack in the middle of a huge group of humans, holding one’s hand, and not even running away screaming. 

He would call that progress, but at the same time it was slightly frightening how he hadn’t even reacted to it. And suddenly, as it turned over in his head, it became horrifying. There were too many humans to count here, right in front of him. None of them were staring at Yuuri… at least in the beginning. But as they kept pushing through the crowd they slowly started staring. 

They noticed the pair walking along casually, pointing fingers and speaking in slightly hushed voices. Yuuri barely translated what they had said in Russian before it disappeared from his memory: “Viktor Nikiforov… who’s that?” They had all seen the famous legend in skating. And were probably not going to know who the hell Yuuri was. Which caused problems, of course.

It was about this time when Viktor sped up his pace, trying to keep his head down as he went faster. This made Yuuri become increasingly nervous about the humans’ staring situation. Finally, just as it seemed like the whole thing was becoming unbearable they broke through the crowd and into an empty marketplace. It seemed like people didn’t exactly come here often, so there were only a few humans loitering around the spot. Yuuri gave a heavy sigh, releasing breath he didn’t know that he was holding in. Was this what it was like to be famous?

Viktor gave a slight chuckle when he saw Yuuri sigh. Yuuri glanced upwards curiously, suddenly realizing he seemed to be actually comfortable with this human. He was with him--holding hands, even, waltzing around town. That made Yuuri panic a bit more than usual.

Yuuri flushed and asked, “What?”

Viktor gave him another little grin, keeping his eyes on Yuuri’s. “Oh, nothing, it’s just that… I’m not exactly sure what to do.”

Yuuri gave him a questioning look, slightly frozen to the spot. What did that mean? Viktor smiled nervously.

“Well… wouldn’t you find it a bit odd? I mean, to be walking around your city with a mythical creature that you’ve only just found out actually exist… and they’ve also been watching you for a bit?” Viktor’s words seemed to smush together at the end. He was quite nervous about that statement, it seemed, but Yuuri was surprisingly unbothered by it all. He understood how weird it must be, honestly. So to return the favor of the countless smiles Viktor had given Yuuri, he smiled gently up at Viktor.

~~~

Yes, there were definitely points of time in this whole series of events when Viktor thought that the man before him was stunning. He wasn’t about to deny that. But it all changed when Yuuri smiled.  
If Viktor were being dramatic, (which he was being) then he would describe Yuuri’s smile as: ‘like God himself just looked down upon the earth and grinned’. Which he probably had, since it was just so beautiful.

Yuuri’s eyes had crinkled slightly at the edges, the gorgeous brown within them sparkling. A very faint blush had appeared at his pale cheeks, his dimples showing along with a smile so deep and thoughtful that Viktor thought he would pass out if he saw it for long enough. Which he almost did, actually. But he managed to contain himself before collapsing on the road and smiled back.

It was like this the whole day, really.

Not the whole seeing-Yuuri’s-smile-and-nearly-passing-out, but the grins that they exchanged. Viktor could feel the tension slipping away from the interaction as it progressed, and at this Viktor felt better about everything. If Yuuri felt bad then he didn’t know what to do except probably feel uncomfortable. Which he didn’t, because he was far too distracted with everything else going on.

The moment the smiles had occurred in the empty street, Viktor immediately saw Yuuri eyeing a shop nearby. Viktor had nearly dragged Yuuri into it to see just what Yuuri was staring at, but really shouldn’t have been so hasty. He had accidentally dragged Yuuri into a sex shop without realizing it, to the incoherent stutters of embarrassment from Yuuri. Needless to say they stumbled right back out that door when they saw the countless products on the walls, Yuuri almost falling face-first on the ground outside. With a shaky cough and an ahem, Viktor was once again ready to waltz around St. Petersburg. Although through the horrible embarrassment that they had both just suffered went through their minds like a hurricane throughout the day.

Viktor took Yuuri many places that day, of all shapes and sizes. (Definitely not back to that awful place in the empty street, though. That had been traumatizing for both of them.) There were several times during it when Viktor asked Yuuri what he wanted to do and he simply stood there, flustered and flushing with the pressure of the choice. Instead of making Yuuri incredibly uncomfortable, Viktor took him to a cafe, a bookshop for a particular novel Viktor had been eyeing, and a grocery store to buy some more tea. But in the end, something Viktor wanted to do suddenly crossed his mind.

The sun was beginning to set at this point, setting bright shades of bronze across the sky along with some slight pinks and blues. A rare sunset during the winter, especially for St. Petersburg citizens. And as they approached Viktor’s destination, he realized that he had just spent the whole day hanging out with a mermaid. And he had dragged Yuuri around like his mother had with his father. If you really thought about it, the whole thing was like a da-- “We’re here?” Yuuri interrupted his train of thought.

The sign over the large building read ‘St. Petersburg Ice’, which Yuuri took to meant as they were here. He stared up at Viktor with a curious gaze. “What’s this, an ice store?”

Viktor had to giggle at that. Who wouldn’t have? “No, of course not! We’ve already got enough of that around here,” Viktor paused to gesture at their surroundings of freezing snow and sleet. “But anyways, I’ve got something real to show you.”

Yuuri walked behind Viktor with a slightly slower pace. He was nervous, Viktor could see. Yuuri gripped Viktor’s hand tightly. They had been holding hands all day, really, Viktor realized. This made his face flush a brilliant shade of pink before stepping inside. 

~~~

The building was freezing, Yuuri noticed, but not as cold as the city. Almost warm if you compared it. And there seemed to be a reception desk with someone there, but all she did was wave Viktor on. He nodded with a smile and walked on.

Viktor casually strolled to a pair of double doors, pushing them open as a blast of chilled air hit them both. Definitely colder than before. Yuuri shivered as he noticed the place. A skating rink? Why were they here? Then it hit him: Oh right, Viktor is Viktor Nikiforov. The living legend of figure skating. To his sudden forgetfulness Yuuri nearly facepalmed before some slight worry set in. What were they doing here anyways?

His question was answered before long, as Viktor told him to wait on one of the benches surrounding the rink. He could see the whole thing from here. And nothing happened for a bit. Before of course, he heard the scuffle of metal and plastic being taken off something. Then he saw it: a magical sight, really.

The sight of Viktor skating.

There was no sounds other than the skating at first. Viktor was simply twirling around the rink before anything really happened. Yuuri stared with awed eyes as he watched Viktor fly up to Yuuri’s seat on the sidelines. Viktor stopped, pushing the ragged piece of metal on the top of his skate downwards to fully stop there. Yuuri supposed this was his brake.  
Viktor spoke softly, “This song is called Stay Close to Me, performed by Kazuma Kudo. I suppose it’s really called Stay Close to Me And Never Leave Me, but… here it is.”

And thus he flew over to another section of the rink, pressed a few buttons on an odd-looking stereo system there, and something clicked on the speakers nearby. He had started the music, and slid over to the center of the rink.

The first thought that Yuuri had was that the song was sorrowful.

He’d learned a bit of Italian while studying the humans’ ancient Renaissance, just a bit. But with it he soon realized what the song was about, along with the choreography of Viktor’s skating. It started with the loneliest look upon Viktor’s face, then him crouching down only to swing back up. His eyes carried a state of sadness as he went along.

But the jumps distracted Yuuri when he saw them. Viktor was elegantly flying into the air with a speed that Yuuri had never quite seen before, twirling and landing on his right skate after four turns. His skates scratched marks into the ice as he glided on it, telling the tale of the opera itself.

The story of a man so lonely and sad, who fights jealousy of those who have someone to be with. He wanted love so badly… before the climax of the song hit and he spoke the words “Stay close to me, and never leave me”, which meant that he had found someone after all.

The whole experience made Yuuri’s heart swell with joy. It was incredible, the types of things that Viktor was doing simply on a thin blade. When Viktor finished, he was exhausted; he had been literally leaping into the air. But as Viktor was gasping for breath at the end, flushed with the activity, Yuuri couldn’t help but start clapping. Usually he wouldn’t, since in that situation it would have singled him out. But nobody else was there, so why shouldn’t he?

Viktor looked up, surprised, like he’d forgotten Yuuri was even there. Then he gave a huge smile before flopping onto the ice, giggling to himself.

~~~

When it was all done and over, Viktor felt a bit giddy. He really didn’t know why; he had no reason to be. Except that he had just performed that skate with someone he knew he wanted to watch: Yuuri. And Yuuri was probably a bit worked up, too: he kept staring up at Viktor and giving him compliments about it, grinning. The sun had worked its way down the sky now, casting a glow of faint light over everything. The sunshine was slipping away as they stepped outside. Viktor looked over at Yuuri, who was glancing around the other buildings. He looked anxious as always, but just a bit more this time. It seemed as if he was debating whether or not to leave.

So Viktor just asked him. “Are you going to leave now, or should we go to my house?” To this sudden question Yuuri gave him a surprised look, then softened.

“Oh… I’m not exactly sure I want to go home just yet. Besides, I’ve had a nice day today… and I think I’ve got some explaining to do to you…” Yuuri blushed under the fading light of day.

It seemed as though Yuuri had warmed up to Viktor and for that he was glad. Yuuri was quite pleasant (beautiful to stare at) and seemed caring and gentle. Someone Viktor wanted around, even if he had inadvertently been getting somewhat stalked by him and he was a mermaid. Or he supposed merman…

Viktor grinned. “Well, follow me! I’ve got a lot to show you!”

Yuuri stumbled after him with curious and excited eyes, ready to come along.

~~~

The first thought Yuuri had when he saw the house was simply “Wow”.

Because it was so large, you see. Only two stories, white walls. A fence surrounding it all and a sidewalk piercing the ground beneath them as they walked up to it. Yuuri could feel it as his heartbeat grew increasingly quick, but tried his best to ignore it. As much as this whole day had freaked him out a bit, he found himself calmer around Viktor than he had been for several days. It was peaceful for once, and Yuuri gave a little smile at that. But all of this peace and calm slipped away when he suddenly realized something:

He had been gone from his house for a full day without even telling his parents or sister. Would they be scrambling around to find him, or would they not even care? At that thought Yuuri felt his body tense. He would definitely be in some deep trouble with his family for making them worry at the end of this all… or maybe nothing would happen at all? Either way, Yuuri’s panic was breaking through the surface, his palms becoming slightly sweaty and his chest beginning to hurt. Sharp, sudden pangs of pain started to nearly attack him, and his heart wouldn’t stop for even a moment. Yuuri almost groaned as all of this happened. He really didn’t want a damn anxiety attack in the middle of this encounter. And for some reason, he felt as if he also didn’t want to make the human worry. Maybe because he already had enough to deal with?

Nevertheless, Yuuri tried to hold himself upright through the growing pain in his chest. It was starting to hurt like hell, which is what happened when you couldn’t calm yourself down. They hadn’t even walked inside yet, and Yuuri was already having some sort of weird episode of something. His feet were shaky in front of him as he attempted walking up the path of Viktor’s home. But before he could fall over completely, Viktor was unlocking the door and they were strolling inside. Well, Viktor was strolling, with an edge of nervousness to his steps. But Yuuri seemed to have lost all motor abilities as he went inside, nearly tumbling over. He was quite glad to have caught himself, however, and everything of the nervousness left him whenever he saw the house itself.

Sure enough, like the outside of the abode, it was large inside as well. Also very warm compared to the chilled wind they had been walking around all day in. For that Yuuri was grateful as he looked around the foyer.

It was beautiful, really. Polished, rich brown wooden floors covered the ground. In front of them was a long, elegant staircase that led up to the second floor. If you turned your head upwards, you saw the second floor, really--there was a balcony surrounding the foyer above them, so you could just look down below to the front door. To their left was an archway leading into a large kitchen with a gorgeous antique table and chairs. An old fridge and oven lay next to the counters and cabinets in there. The one main thing about the kitchen was the fancy chandelier on the ceiling above the dining table, coloring the room with a shimmering light. To their right was another archway that led into a big living room, which was more dim. There was a fire burning low in the hearth there, which made the room warmer than the foyer. Bookshelves and couches surrounded the fireplace. Another antique, a coffee table, lay next to the couch. The couch wasn’t actually multiple ones; it was one of those ones that was very long and connected together. So you could probably fit about a whole party of people on it. Yuuri shuffled inside the magnificent and warm house faster than he had been when they ran back out of the weird sex shop.

Viktor led Yuuri into the cozy living room with the fireplace and gestured to the long couch. Yuuri still felt uncomfortable with being in a human’s house and all, but the sheer warmth of the whole place made him feel better.

The last time Yuuri was here, he’d barely had time to even look around. He’d simply bolted up the stairs as fast as he could lugging around a human and dumped him in the nearest room. A room which he assumed was the human’s bedroom, but once again was mistaken. Yuuri could feel his face scrunch up at the thought of that.

He was taken to the couch, where he sat down nervously. He sank into its cushions, looking up at Viktor with a look of both confusion and fright at this social situation. But Viktor simply nodded down at Yuuri with a smile and walked off. Yuuri had to lean upwards to see where he was going; the cushions were that squashy. But he adjusted himself enough to see where Viktor was properly: the kitchen. And starting on a cup of tea.

Yuuri bit his lip.

Eventually after several minutes of awkwardly staring at Viktor’s furniture and debating the shattering abilities of his screen door for escaping, Viktor popped back into the room politely. He was holding two mugs of steaming tea, the tea bags hanging out from the side of the mugs. He gave Yuuri one, then settled down into the couch across from him.

Yuuri gripped the handle of the mug. He was frightened, obviously. But the warmth of the tea and the whole room itself made him calm down a bit. The pounding pain in his chest hadn’t quite disappeared--it doesn’t unless you can push your stress and emotions downwards again--but it seemed to have faded slightly. Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief at that, the air whooshing into his mug and the steam rising back up. Viktor looked up, taking notice of the sigh. He gave Yuuri another little smile.

“You said you had something to explain, Yuuri?” Viktor gave Yuuri a both questioning and coy smile. To this Yuuri simply glanced up at Viktor. He felt guilty. For everything.

“Well…”

~~~

No, Viktor was definitely not expecting what he heard. He did not expect to hear Yuuri say that he was a mermaid, or that he had a mermaid family. He did not expect Yuuri to say that he had erased his memories out of pure confusion and frustration, and jumped into the nearest room to dump Viktor in. He did not expect Yuuri to say that he lived in the ocean, in a human’s “house”, that he was simply too flustered to do much else except find things out about Viktor.  
Who in the world would actually expect that??

When Yuuri finally finished (he had been talking for over an hour) he was completely flushed from embarrassment, slightly sweating, and the tea had been refilled over 5 times. He might as well have been gasping for breath, he had been talking for just that long. Viktor really didn’t know what to do or say at this--who would?

But honestly, wasn’t all of this, all of the running around and stalking and alleyways… Wasn’t it all just because of some tiny mistakes? The mistake that Viktor made of coming onto the beach in the first place. The mistake Yuuri made of placing Viktor in the wrong room so he got suspicious. They both had made this happen. This day. This hour. This very minute. It was from both of them making mistakes.

At that Viktor had to smile at the irony of it. 

~~~

The whole thing was truly horrifying to Yuuri. Telling Viktor everything about it all. How he had started watching him, how he had begun to learn things about him. The blush across his entire face had started when he began talking, and was growing redder and deeper with every word. Soon enough he was so red with pure embarrassment he must’ve looked like a very ripe tomato. Viktor didn’t comment on the blush or anything, really--he just kept his eyes on Yuuri while he was talking. They never left his; even when he was refilling the tea mugs.

So it was odd, really, to see Viktor smile at that.

Yuuri was about to ask why he was smiling whenever Viktor stood up abruptly. He stretched his legs and arms, yawning. Then he ambled over to the window next to the screen door and yanked the curtains open to look outside.

And Yuuri saw the snow falling outside once more. In the comfiness of the room and the fire crackling behind them still, it reminded Yuuri so much of Viktor’s skating earlier that day. His face in the beginning of the choreography looked so sad, lonely yet thoughtful. But in the end, his face was alight with something else. Love. The song fit the program perfectly.

Viktor stared at the snow for a long moment. His eyes seemed to glaze over with thought before he turned around.  
He smiled gently for what seemed like the millionth time, speaking in the same tone of voice as the smile. “So… are you going to leave now?”

Yuuri flinched a bit. He should’ve maybe considered that notion. But at the same time, he really didn’t know what would happen if he went home. He would most likely either get screamed at or not noticed at all, so Yuuri sat for a moment contemplating it. But either way, the options weren’t exactly cheerful or happy. And, how would he even get home? He’d been here for an hour and a half, and the snow was piling up on the roads and making the Gulf way too freezing to plunge into…

Yuuri pulled himself out of the squishy couch, staring at Viktor with a nervous look. “Um… I don’t really know…”

Viktor gave Yuuri a huge smile after a few seconds then. “Then, would you want to stay over??”

Yuuri’s eyes widened for some time before he responded. “O...kay?” And immediately Viktor was running around the house, looking for something.

Yuuri had either just made a huge mistake or made a very good choice. He didn’t know which one…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi (to like the two people reading this)) i didn't upload last week. was definitely supposed to, but the last draft of this chapter was so terrible I had to delete the whole thing. Note: don't try and write when you're not inspired whatsoever.
> 
> Anyways, I've been thinking about giving songs to the people surrounding this fic:
> 
> For the readers, you can have the theme song. (IVE DECIDED ITS THE THEME SONG BECAUSE THE TITLE OF THIS WAS INSPIRED BY IT OKKKKKK????))   
> Here: Paper Forest (Afterglow of Rapture) by Emmy the Great
> 
> For my sis: Buttercup by Jack Stauber. IT'S POP FOOD, ROBYN. AND WHEN WILL YOU READ THIS??  
> For Avery:With Or Without You by U2. Thanks for a great summer, and sorry I kept spamming you with Victuuri fanart...  
> For Dyanafl: aka the one person I actually want to read this: Alesund by Sun Kil Moon. I WILL KEEP SPAMMING U THO  
> For my porch swing: Ave Maria by Luciano Pavarotti. What's wrong with giving songs to inanimate objects?  
> For me: BTSTU by Jai Paul and Intertwined by Dodie. What's wrong with giving myself songs?
> 
> This week's chapter is sponsored by: My sis, Dyanafl, more Grey's Anatomy, my horrifyingly stupid dog Lily, the website 7 Cups where I'm a Listener for people, Harry Potter, ADOBEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, and most of all dumping milk in the keyboard instead of water this time


	8. Viktor's Guide to Getting A Mermaid To Have A Sleepover At Your House and/or Have One With An Incredibly Hot One ( ™ Pending)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gotta lot of things to do
> 
> This is one of them now?
> 
> >:3

Afterglow: A YOI Story:

Chapter 8: Viktor’s Guide to Getting a Mermaid And/Or Have A Sleepover With A Very Hot One ( ™ Pending)  
____________

It was at this moment that Yuuri could feel the panic nearly seeping through as he stared at the human. Viktor, he meant.

Viktor was scrambling around his home, looking for something specific, but Yuuri didn’t know what. Every time he tried to ask Viktor would be running somewhere else. It was all very confusing for Yuuri, but by the time he was just about to scream or something Viktor returned to the living room with an armful of different items.

Items… for sleeping, he supposed. Blankets and a pile of pillows and a bunch of assorted random skincare products Yuuri was sure wasn’t part of the deal--some face masks you’d usually see on a woman and some slippers with Viktor’s face on them.

Talk about self-centered…

But anyhow, Yuuri didn’t really know how to speak anymore from the sheer shock of everything happening, so he simply sat there, dumbstruck. Until the load on Viktor’s arms got too heavy and all the skincare things and women’s face masks fell everywhere, which made Viktor yelp loudly.

Yuuri smiled. Tonight would be a long night…

Or so he thought, before he fell asleep on the couch about 15 minutes later.

~~~

Viktor was tempted to touch Yuuri’s face. Just a bit. Not like he was going to act on it--it would probably make for some awkward conversation when he woke up and saw Viktor in his face.

Viktor sighed heavily, leaning back in the squishy old couch again. The clock on his phone read that it was nearly 11 pm. This wasn’t particularly a late night for Viktor or anything--he’d been staying up late a lot talking online or staring at social media. The darkness of his home and the warmth of the fire made chatting online incredibly comforting somehow. He’d made his house very cozy over a short period of time, he realized.

Yuuri had fallen asleep quite quickly after Viktor returned with the blankets. It came as no surprise to him. Yuuri had been awake for nearly two days straight--he deserved some sleep, obviously. So Viktor tried to walk as quietly as he could in his house as he switched off all the lights.

It was completely dark when Viktor came back inside. The only light in the room was from the fire and the streetlights outside, but even those were dimmed through the snow. Viktor also realized another light source could be Yuuri’s face, since it just looked so bright and beautiful… but he snapped out of it before he could dwell on that thought.

It kind of made him giddy.

He tried to adjust Yuuri’s body somehow, so that he couldn’t have a sore back or neck in the morning, but was afraid of waking him up. He sighed again, kind of content, before slipping out of the room and walking back up the stairs. 

His bedroom was now his parents’ old one, which meant he had the cool room, basically. By “cool”, it was actually amazing.

A huge king-sized bed, with a brand-new mattress, a sliding door leading out to their balcony, with their hot tub on it. He’d gotten it fixed, even, so that if he got cold enough he could probably just go jump in the tub. But he hadn’t tried it yet. He got the feeling that he shouldn’t do it… at least alone.

The bed was in the middle of the room, against the wall; the balcony across the room. Across from his bed was his wardrobe, where he kept all his clothes. He didn’t keep any skating outfits there though, those were safe within Yakov’s overgrown closet.

Viktor slipped out of his jacket and socks before shutting off the lightswitch and sliding onto the bed, exhausted. His body was too tired to really keep awake to talk to Chris or that other skater Phichit. That made him a bit disappointed. He really could’ve used a horrible dating/sex story or some selfies to make him laugh. Although he was pretty sure if he laughed at Chris’ story that Chris would find out somehow and get him back for it… he could be scary sometimes, and not just by making the ice so wet…

Viktor fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was too exhausted to stay awake, anyways…

~~~

Yuuri woke with a start. 

And then started to panic once more, for what seemed like the millionth time that day. But it wasn’t day anymore. It was night, and the fire was at its lowest. Still burning, but slowly coming to a stop. Someone needed to put more wood on it…

The room was nearly pitch black without the fire or the moonlight streaming in. The snow had stopped, it seemed, and a large fresh layer of snow was laying on the ground now. So much for clearer days. Yuuri sighed, rubbing his eyes. He tried to adjust them before staring at the clock on the wall. It read 2 AM. He’d fallen asleep, that was for sure, but he didn’t know where the human was. Yuuri stood up, his legs slightly shaking as he attempted to stretch them. He knew he would never get used to those silly humans’ “legs”. He missed swimming, if only for a moment.

Yuuri fumbled around in the darkness of the living room, feeling his hands across the walls for the touch of a light switch, but to no avail. He had no idea where they were. He was stuck without light, it seemed. He needed to find the Viktor, obviously--but didn’t really want to wake him up. Or was it that he just wanted out?

Yuuri managed to stumble back into the foyer long enough to reach the elegant staircase, gripping the banister as he crept upwards on it. He wasn’t about to fall off and break his neck on a staircase. He reached the top very carefully and turned the corner into the hallway/balcony. You really could see everybody from up here, but from down there it must look like there’s a huge hole in the ceiling or something. Yuuri, still holding the banister, eventually made his way into the hallway of bedrooms. No signs of life were coming from them except from the one at the end of the hall, of which Yuuri could see the door was cracked open slightly. Quickly and quietly, Yuuri slipped into there, hoping the door wouldn’t squeak loudly and announce his obvious arrival. It didn’t, and for that Yuuri was grateful. He would’ve been quite mad later if he hadn’t seen the next thing he saw.

It was Viktor. And not just him normally.

The curtains on his window were wide open, letting the moonlight bathe him in an extraordinary hue of white and blue. His comforter was splayed across his bed, messy and out of order. And then Viktor, wrapped in the middle of them, his silver hair colored this godlike white against the moon. He was sleeping like he had no care in the world, and for that Yuuri found beauty in him.

Yuuri let the door shut behind him, stepping into the path of the moonlight. Then, without a sound, he slipped into Viktor’s bed, covering himself with the blanket. Viktor was facing him, his eyes closed in a deep sleep. Yuuri leaned forward slightly. He smelled something kind of sweet, before realizing it was Viktor. He smelled like an odd mixture of mint and pastries, comforting to anyone. 

Yuuri fell asleep a couple of minutes later, drawn to this scent. He slept like a baby that night. It was the best sleep he’d ever had.

~~~

When Viktor woke, he woke with slight annoyance. He was trying to sleep, but something was touching his waist…

At first, he tried to push it away, but was instead met with the touch of something warm and soft. Skin.

His eyes widened until he got a clearer point of view. In front of him--no, next to him in bed, was Yuuri. Sleeping quietly and peacefully, wrapped up comfortably in Viktor’s blanket. The sun was shining through the windows--a rare sight for winter, coloring Yuuri’s hair and skin even lighter. His long eyelashes kept batting at the light, and Viktor caught brief flashes of his deep brown eyes. His lips were parted slightly, flushed pink by the sun.

Viktor felt himself leaning over to his face long before he thought about what he was doing. He leaned backwards, almost toppling off the bed at what he was thinking. Really, just what was he going to do? Kiss Yuuri?

Viktor had to giggle at that. He felt giddy again at that thought.

But something about that made Viktor’s heart kickstart a little. A spark of something in his mind. He could feel it. He didn’t know what it was, exactly, but it was there. And it made his world shift just a little.  
Confusion about that was long forgotten when Viktor realized what the thing on his waist really was. Yuuri’s hand. Which meant…

Viktor had most likely been getting manhandled by a mermaid all night.

Before he could stifle a giggle at that thought Yuuri had moved his hand forward, which ALSO meant…

A mermaid was holding his ass with one hand.

Viktor couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing, feeling tears of laughter starting to gather in his eyes. He couldn’t believe it--timid, shy, adorable little Yuuri had groped him in the middle of the night and not realized it. At the sudden noise however, Yuuri’s godlike face in the sun was beginning to twitch. He was stirring. Viktor quieted down at the sight, covering his mouth with his hand and trying not to laugh anymore. But then again, Yuuri’s hand was still on his butt…

So rather, instead of laughing, he was snort-laughing behind his hand. He kept up with that for a while, until he collapsed when Yuuri decided it would be a good time to suddenly squeeze whatever was in his hand.

It was at this moment that Viktor couldn’t take the hilarity of it all and yanked his hand off his mouth, laughing so hard he thought he was going to pass out. The tears started to freefall down his face, and he nearly had to jam his hand in his mouth to shut up, because Yuuri was awake.

Oops.

But Yuuri had only really opened his eyes. He hadn’t registered anything yet--his eyes showed no sign of life yet. Awake, but not really. Viktor was staring intently into Yuuri’s eyes for about a minute before Yuuri turned his head slightly, blinking at Viktor. To this action, Viktor smiled widely and teased Yuuri, “Good morning, sleepyhead! You sleep well?”

Yuuri once again didn’t start or anything. He just laid there for a moment, staring… before he flinched hard and his eyes widened. “Oh… god. I didn’t mean to come in here last night or anything… I couldn’t find the light switch…” Yuuri blushed fiercely under the morning sun, but didn’t try to move away from Viktor or anything. He did, however, squish his face into his pillow a bit harder, an attempt to cover his face from the embarrassment of it all. Viktor smiled gently at that. How cute.

Viktor was really trying hard to not embarrass Yuuri even more, but he didn’t exactly know how to tell him about the whole hand thing. So instead of outright telling him, he nervously looked down at his waist, slowly looking back up at Yuuri again. At that, Yuuri also looked down, curious to see what Viktor was looking at. 

It seemed as though his face had exploded by the time Yuuri yanked his hand off of Viktor’s butt. It looked like he was a tomato again. His face was burning with the humiliation, but still he didn’t try to get off the bed or anything. Viktor found this slightly odd. He would’ve figured that if Yuuri had been doing that all night and suddenly realized it he would be practically screeching by now.

But he wasn’t. He wasn’t moving away. Viktor found this a bit comforting, if only a little bit. Maybe he was relaxed enough to actually interact with Viktor normally now? Viktor shrugged these thoughts off for the moment. He probably didn’t need to stare off into the distance oddly any more than he should have if he didn’t want to freak Yuuri the hell out. Viktor sighed, giving Yuuri a trademark smile before settling into the blanket once more. Closing his eyes, he let the sunshine warm his face. There really weren’t enough clear days like this during a St. Petersburg winter. It was quite rare. Which most likely meant a lot of people would be out and about today.

At this, Viktor smiled even more. He was quite curious about the rest of today’s events, what would happen. Almost anxious. He opened his eyes slowly, delicately, staring into Yuuri’s. Yuuri was still very red, but seemed to be relaxing just a bit. The pink absolutely flushing his face had settled down slightly. And he was giving Viktor this almost serene look. It was the most peaceful he had seen him yet. He looked so quiet, so beautiful in the sunlight. His eyelashes fluttered whenever he looked at Viktor. Those cinnamon eyes were doleful; yet they were filled with something naive, cute and small. Viktor couldn’t quite describe it--but didn’t want to interuppt the moment. Something sparked inside his heart once more, and it made his heart race a bit when he looked over at Yuuri lying next to him. He still didn’t know what in the world that was…

They stayed like that for a long while, shifting comfortably in there occasionally. It was so odd; really, they were simply sitting there without saying anything. But Viktor got the feeling that they didn’t really need words to say.

They were communicating.  
~~~

Yuuri knew that it was late by the time that they both finally got up from that bed. 

By staring at the sun from the window, he could tell that it must be about near noon. It was a clear, sunny day, which was quite unusual for every St. Petersburg citizen. Everyone expected it to be horribly cold today. But no; it was a temperate 20 degrees.

Viktor had very suddenly flounced off of the bed after a long time. He’d probably seen the clock on his phone. Yuuri wondered if Viktor had a lot of days like this while Viktor pulled on a random robe out of his wardrobe, snuggling up in it comfortably, while Yuuri was left staring at Viktor in his shoddy clothes. Viktor, however, seemed to already be on the case.

He nearly dragged Yuuri to his fancy bathroom, handed him a stack of clothes from his arms, and then pointed at Yuuri with some coyly closed eyes, “Strip.”

Then he shut the door behind him, leaving Yuuri dumbfounded. What the hell did that mean? He sighed, flushing his embarrassment for the millionth time and eventually picking out something from the pile of clothes he thought would be okay. But as he was putting them on, a nostalgic scent hit him. Curious, he turned them over and took a sniff.

It was from last night, Yuuri realized. They all smelled like Viktor. Mint and pastries, with a faint scent of roses. Yuuri smiled at that, pulling them on regardless. He had chosen some more sweatpants--they were very comfy for him, with a regular old shirt. Although, the shirt DID have Viktor’s face on it…

Yuuri chuckled at the sight of it, picking up his other tattered clothes and sticking them right where they should be: the trash can. He looked around the bathroom, at its fancy tile flooring and shower, and couldn’t help but feel tempted to take a shower. He hadn’t swam in so long…

~~~

Viktor kind of suspected how things were going to happen, but his predictions were wrong. He really thought that Yuuri would at least just turn on the shower, maybe just go for a quick spin in it… It would probably be too good of a chance to pass up. But rather, he found himself nearly smashing the door down when he heard a yelp coming from the bathroom. A splash led after it, and then a groan. Viktor, after hearing that, knocked on the door furiously, trying to get him to open it when suddenly, the lock clicked and the door just sort of… fell open.

Low and behold, it was Yuuri, sitting in the tub with pretty much no water in it… and a tail hanging over the end of it.

Viktor sighed heavily.

At that Yuuri blushed and tried to heave the curtain closed, but it was too late. Viktor was already yanking it open and pulling the faucet out. The faucet soon started pouring out hot water, and let it run for a bit while he walked to the end of the bathroom, opening cabinets and pulling objects out.

Eventually, when the tub was filled and Yuuri felt like his skin was going to fall off from embarrassment, he came back around with towels, hairdryer, and some other clothes along with a robe like Viktor’s. Viktor sure came prepared for everything, it seemed.

He left the things on the counter, quietly saying “Here” before he slipped out of the door. He couldn’t quite see Viktor’s face; he wondered why he was acting like that. But it was answered when he heard an incredibly loud snort nearly echo from the hallway, and a slight fit of laughter.

Yuuri sank into his blazing water. Oh.

He really hadn’t meant to get all… like this… Yuuri didn’t exactly have control over it whenever he transformed. Well, he did, but sometimes it was simply too difficult to try and stop it.

He sank even deeper into it, steam rising up from the tub now. Dammit.

~~~

When Yuuri finally got out, he decided to tough it out and dry himself off as a human, which if you’re looking in a mirror makes you really confront what you’re doing…

Yuuri huffed into the Viktor-scented clothing once more and stared at his flushed cheeks in the mirror. As he walked out, a blast of cold air hit him, and he shakily made his way back down the stairs.

He made his way back to the living room, where Viktor was sitting on the couch and staring at his phone casually, more tea in his hand. He didn’t look up from his phone when he said a hello. He seemed a bit glued to the screen. Or maybe he was just trying not to burst out laughing again?

Yuuri sat down on the opposite couch, uncomfortable. “I feel like I should explain what happened in there…” He trailed off nervously, looking down at the coffee table.

Viktor finally looked up. Shutting off his phone and sliding it back on the table, he also set down his cup of tea. His hands were empty when Yuuri looked up at him again. He couldn’t quite describe the look on Viktor’s face, though.

“Hmm… You’re right, Yuuri. You haven’t really told me about the real physique of your species just yet, although you told me all that over stuff…” Viktor looked thoughtful.

Yuuri sighed, his face growing distant as he spoke. “We… can’t really control when we get our tails back. I know it’s weird, but it’s just always been that way.” Yuuri took a casual sip of Viktor’s tea without realizing what he was doing.

“For millennia, mermaids have been able to transform to appear like humans. It was our only chance of surviving then. We had to blend in. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to get food or really study early humans.” Yuuri sipped at the cup again without noticing, then set it back down again, continuing. “Over time, however, the ancients of our kind started a system in which to transform more easily.”

Viktor shifted uncomfortably in his seat, staring at Yuuri.

“However, though, when people started using this method, they found more and more humans who would… you know, see them. And then the whole JJ shebang happened…” Yuuri trailed off, staring at something that seemed far away. He emptied the cup. Viktor blushed but didn’t say a word about it. Yuuri gazed at him with a slightly questioning gaze but most likely assumed the blush was from the sun streaming through the windows.

“What was the ‘JJ Shebang’??” Viktor stifled a giggle at the name behind his hand. Yuuri pretended not to notice, shifting once more in the couch cushions. Crossing his arms, he proceeded, although looking a bit nervous about it all. Viktor didn’t blame him. Here he was, talking about his species, mermaids, to a random human he may or may not have just spent the night sleeping in the same bed with…

“There was this really bad thief in ancient times… they called him JJ. He was known for stealing the most valuable of objects, then often murdering whoever got in his way. But one day…” Yuuri swallowed audibly, “JJ got bored. And he knew that his time as a thief was coming to an end. So, he looked for something of value, and there he found a mermaid.”

Viktor froze. Yuuri kept going.

“I suppose that you could simply guess what he did next… but after that, we retreated. No more human contact. Even now, sitting with you,” Yuuri’s eyes bored into Viktor’s, “I could get in so much trouble for this.”

Viktor didn’t know what to do anymore. The thought that he was probably going to cause a lot of trouble for Yuuri flustered him. But yet still, as Viktor was turning this over mentally, Yuuri still spoke.

“I thought that you still deserve answers on who we are, though. About what we do, why we are secretive. I’ve caused you a lot of trouble… and for that I’m sorry, Viktor.” Then Yuuri placed his hands on his knees, and bent his head downwards. He was apologizing for things that were out of his control. Not his fault in the slightest. For that, Viktor sighed heavily, resting his eyes upon Yuuri’s stance he had taken.

“No need, Yuuri. No need at all.” Viktor stood up decisively, determined in some way. He made Yuuri’s head tilt upwards, curious. And Viktor saw that there were tears in Yuuri’s eyes. No need. No need at all.

Viktor took long strides across the distance that divided them, stopping in front of Yuuri in only a few steps. Then he leaned down in front of Yuuri. He was meeting his level now. And then he spoke.

~~~

There was something in those eyes after all, Yuuri realized. They had used to be soft, gentle, caring. But now they had filled with something else. It was strong, formidable. Not to be broken in the slightest. And those powerful eyes were directly in front of Yuuri’s timid ones.

And then he heard it. It was so soft, so silent that Yuuri could’ve sworn that he didn’t hear it at all: it was eight words exactly:

“Don’t worry about the things you can’t change.”

Yuuri felt his eyes water, just a bit.

And he knew that he shouldn’t let this particular human simply fall back into the crowd.

~~~

It had been sunny all day, rather than a bleak regular winter one. The image of Yuuri in that bed that morning lay fresh in Viktor's mind. He felt as if he just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

But the day was over anyhow. The sun wasn’t so fresh anymore--instead it was casting bronze and pink colors across the city, and clouds were beginning to gather in the sky. The Gulf of Finland seemed to brighter as the pair walked closer and closer, both with some type of regret in their eyes.

The days that they had spent together had certainly been eventful. Skating, bookstores, WRONG stores, lots of tea and a hot bath… Yuuri was smiling at the thoughts of the weekend, Viktor knew. What else could make something as holy as Yuuri’s smile come out?

Viktor felt satisfied about it all. His goal was mainly to establish a chain of trust between the two, but honestly he got a whole lot more. It was all very weird, really; who would’ve thought that a mermaid and a human could get along so well? But the water was getting closer on the cove, and that meant that their time was coming to an end. They both had stopped at the edge of the Gulf.

Yuuri stepped forward. “You know, I never exactly finished telling you about how we transform, Viktor…”

Viktor realized it, nodding somewhat vigorously. He was quite curious.

But before anything else happened, Yuuri was stepping into the Gulf, it’s freezing waters covering his ankles and knees before Viktor could even blink. Then, just as suddenly, he plunged into that chilled water, disappearing.

Viktor nearly considered leaving before Yuuri popped up again, hair soaked. And with a tail that Viktor honestly didn’t know how to describe except for the word ‘Stunning’. Or at least that counted in mermaid terms?

Yuuri laughed at Viktor’s reaction, flashing that adorable smile again. “Thank you so much, Viktor. It’s been fun.”

Yuuri went underwater again, but it was only for a few moments before he came rushing back upwards again. And making his way back up the cove. Viktor stared in a state of pure shock at him. Wasn’t expecting that, was he?

And Yuuri didn’t say anything else; he just gave Viktor a small kiss on the cheek before once again disappearing into that water.

There was no trace of the mermaid except a small ripple in the Gulf and a shadow zipping through it.

~~~

Both Yuuri and Viktor flushed a darker shade of red than they had ever experienced in their entire lives after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sister asked me the other day why I was writing this.
> 
> I didn't respond, mainly because she wouldn't listen, and also because there are simply too many reasons to explain. But I will say them to you, dear reader:
> 
> I thought my summer would be miserable, mind you. I thought that I would sit and sleep and be sad about myself. But all of that changed with YoI. I identified myself within the characters, saw the huge fanbase. It is because of this connection I carry that I have changed who I am. I have made friends. I have had arguments. I have branched out online. I have stopped caring about what the world thinks--and it's all because of this show. I cannot explain exactly how this all happened. But it changed me. It defined me somehow.
> 
> And I honestly think that is exactly what Mitsurou Kubo had in mind for her show with Saya Yamamoto.
> 
> Because of these two women and this one show, I have found myself anew. I love opera and figure skating. I do not judge based on your first ten words. I actually look deeper than appearances. I want to write to vent, I want to tell a story. I want to write in order to define myself more, I want to write simply because I want someone to understand. And I know nobody will--because nobody knows what I truly think about. What my appearance is does not in any way influence what my mind is going on about. You'd think more people would know that nowadays.
> 
> So I write, Robyn, for myself and others. I don't call it an obsession, but a hobby. Simply because it changed who I am. And for that I'm grateful.
> 
> I rushed to write this for my deadline on Friday. This week's chapter is sponsored by:  
> Avery Richardson, Thom, Dyanafl, 7 Cups which I am a Listener on, celinas_house, sh4612, art class, modern philosophy, my cat playing with my shoe on the carpet at midnight exactly, catnip, SAO, H20 Just Add Water, and Bjork.
> 
> Enjoy, and give me some feedback.


	9. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astounding doesn't even begin to describe what information Viktor has recently learned...
> 
> or what ways that fact might manifest itself.

Afterglow: A YOI Story:

Chapter 9: Suspicion  
____________

Mari couldn’t help but sigh when she saw the condition of her younger brother.

Yuuri was dead asleep, sprawled across his “bed” with this dopey look in his eyes. Seriously? He had disappeared somewhere for literally three days without explaining anything and then immediately flopped onto his bed to sleep? What was Yuuri thinking?

Mari reluctantly shut the door after looking at him one final time. Well, it didn’t exactly matter what he’d been up to, because he hadn’t even been there for what had happened.

Toshiya had been called to the Kovas. The Rotsevenkovas. Basically the leaders of the whole mermaid species. And he’d been summoned to speak with them. About what, Mari had no idea. But from the events that had occurred recently, she was only left to wildly speculate. She would need Yuuri awake for them to talk about it. 

By “events”, there were some particular… “incidents” amongst their home. The day that Yuuri had mysteriously disappeared, Toshiya and Hiroko had both gone into their bedroom to speak about something in hushed whispers. They didn’t say a damn word about it to Mari, but rather seemed to be ignoring her. But Mari didn’t dare ask anything anyways. By this point, she felt too scared to really know the answer. She couldn’t confirm or deny anything yet, but…

She had a strong feeling that it had something to do with the Mystery Clan.

The Mystery Clan is exactly what the name implies--a total mystery. Nobody has any idea who they are, what their motives are. All people know is about the series of break-ins that they had recently done, to random homes across the Gulf. They didn’t steal anything, but instead seemed to “take a look around”. There were only a few scarce witnesses to these break-ins, as the Mystery Clan had obviously been timing and planning these right. But the Kovas and even the Altins, a vicious clan full of warriors, couldn’t get anything out of them. The reason why? The witnesses were all too shocked and traumatized by what had happened to them.

What had happened to them… was yet another mystery. Only one person had actually been able to tell the tale of what happened to him. A brave soul, there. 

He told the Kovas that merely all he saw was a dark figure, which was standing in his house. Bathed by moonlight and darkness, he couldn’t see anything but the glint of a sharpened knife. They were tall, sturdy, and very intimidating. And before he could even blink, he was left with a deep gash in the shape of an English ‘M’ on his right arm--right before they completely disappeared.

Of course, all of this had only gotten out a couple of days before. And everyone in every community was totally freaking out. Naturally. 

Mari sighed, leaning against the door to her brother’s bedroom and closing her eyes right as the front door flew open. And inside came in her father, looking very pale and slightly sweaty before he slammed the door shut and shuffled into his bedroom without even so much as glancing at his own daughter.

Mari flinched. What the hell?

~~~

After Yuuri had left, Viktor found himself kind of pouty. And it had literally only been a day.

Viktor supposed that since all of that mermaid-horrible-mistake-being-terrified ordeal, everything had just calmed down. He didn’t need to worry anymore. But there was something odd about not being worried. It felt nearly foreign. He’d gotten used to it.

So Viktor’s solution the day after Yuuri had left was to flop around on his couch in weird positions and stare at Twitter. Okay.

And he was directly in the midst of that late in the evening when he was interrupted by someone ringing his doorbell. To this, Viktor had to sigh heavily. Honestly, he was just moping around all day, and that makes your willpower completely vanish…

Viktor shuffled to the door lazily, rubbing his eyes from the exhaustion he was facing. Doing nothing all day really took it out of you. Pulling open the door curiously, he was met with a dark figure shrouded in moonlight and the black of the night. He shivered a bit violently at the person before the light from his house lit up the face.

It was just Yurio, glaring as always. But the way that Yuuri had been looking out there honestly gave him chills…

But anywho, Viktor gave a huge smile to Yurio before he could continue feeling creeped out. It was his skating partner after all, and he literally hadn’t seen him in about a month. He had missed him, he realized, even though he was incredibly brash and rude constantly. 

“Hey. I just came by to check what’s been going on. And…” Yurio cocked his head sideways slightly with a sly grin, “you’re still looking like an old man.”

Viktor ignored that comment and ushered Yurio inside quickly, as snow was beginning to fall. A lukewarm blast of air hit Viktor again as he strode back inside, and he glanced over to Yurio. For once, he wasn’t complaining about something that Viktor had: his house. Rather, he seemed to be staring in amazement at everything there. Viktor only saw that for a moment, but he knew that it was there. He could tell by the way that once Yurio saw Viktor staring, he immediately whipped his head back and frowned again. Viktor wondered about Yurio’s actions before eagerly pushing him to the living room to get comfortable.

The fire was burning low again, but it was still burning. The room was much brighter than it had been when Yuuri was here, but the place had grown kind of messy. Books sprawled everywhere and pillows falling off the couch. Viktor saw this and scrambled to pick everything up, all while thinking of that last interaction between Yuuri and Viktor.

Viktor got a kiss on the cheek.

He stifled a giggle but a smile escaped his lips, and Yurio gave him a questioning stare. 

Yurio sat down in a slight huff, crossing his arms. Typical Yurio. “What have you even been doing lately, geezer?”

Viktor’s lips twitched at the nickname but didn’t address it. He actually didn’t really know how to explain what he’d been up to… at the risk of sounding like a total insane idiot. Seriously though, if he thought about it, he’d been galavanting around with a mermaid for two weeks. He fought back a smile but didn’t respond.

Yurio, being the observant/intense bastard he was, noticed.

He glared at Viktor, frowning even more deeply. “Why do you keep smiling like that? It’s creepy…” Yurio looked away. Viktor couldn’t tell if Yurio was embarrassed by something or if he felt guilty. But Viktor felt his heart nearly leaped out of his throat when Yurio flipped back around, screaming, “DID YOU FIND SOMEONE?? IS THAT WHY YOU’RE BEING ALL WEIRD??”

Viktor struggled to hide his grimace at the question. Okay, how would he even know to ask that? Was he telepathic or something?

Shrugging that off, he tried to keep his composure so that Yurio wouldn’t find anything out. But really, though… HAD he actually “found someone”? Or was he really just running around with no meaning?

Yurio was glaring suspiciously at Viktor. 

Viktor felt kind of sweaty under the stare Yurio was giving him. Yurio seemed to be leaning out of his chair, getting closer to Viktor as he observed him. What an intense investigation that seemed to be happening. Viktor didn’t really know how to respond to this particular detective, though…

“Well?” Yurio practically screeched. 

Viktor just kind of stared at him and let his lips curl into an awkward-looking crooked smile. He felt even sweatier. This was like, a once-in-a-lifetime situation, really… to have Yurio question his dead love life in his living room really late at night… But one had to wonder why Yurio would really even care about it at all. Yurio was loud and grouchy with way too many opinions, so it was quite odd to see him being so curious about Viktor’s life. Did he actually care about Viktor?

Yurio was not pleased by Viktor’s response of awkward smiling and his glare seemed to deepen. Viktor looked away, attempting to avoid it. This was turning out to be kind of humiliating…

But Viktor didn’t have to worry anymore when finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Yurio leaned back into his original position. He sighed, closing his eyes in what seemed kind of resigned way. Viktor released the huge breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, somewhat relieved. Until, of course, Yurio opened his eyes and said something Viktor never would’ve expected to hear from him. 

Yurio gave Viktor a coy smile.

“You have found someone, I can tell.” Yurio softened his features, to which Viktor froze instantly. “The way you act now… it’s different. Normally you would be scolding someone for acting that way to you, but…”

Yurio’s eyes gave an incredible spark of realization. “You’re in love. And whoever it is, they’re beautiful.”

~~~

Viktor just stared. 

Staring, silent, still. Not a word for a moment. And that was because Viktor was suddenly realizing something:

Yurio was right.

Viktor was completely, utterly, deeply in love with a mermaid. He knew exactly when it must have begun--the day he saw him on that snowy beach, all the way back in November. How his heart ignited with something when he saw Yuuri for the first time, how he flushed at those eyes of his. And Yurio was right--Yuuri was beautiful, no—

“He’s stunning.”

Viktor said those words before he could even think about them coming out of his mouth. They were both right: Viktor was in love and Yuuri was indeed stunning.

Yurio didn’t even look surprised. Instead, he gave Viktor this gentle, quiet smile that made Viktor nearly pop out of his chair. He looked so… pure.

“Of course he is. I would expect nothing less. And I hope that he is what lets you become inspired to skate again.”

At this moment, Viktor’s heart swelled immensely with gratitude. Gratitude for having Yurio around, for having Yuuri. For being in love. For having skating, and for having his old home. For the Gulf of Finland, for his hometown. He was in love, and he knew it.

What a magnificent feeling it was.

~~~

At first, there was nothing but peaceful slumber.

Yuuri kept drifting in and out of sleep all throughout the night, dreaming pleasantly of his experiences with Viktor. Of that sunset, that kiss on the cheek. Of quiet times sitting together on that couch. He didn’t know what it was that made them fit so nicely--they were simply at peace near one another. Something clicked, snapped.

And it fit perfectly.

But this peace was shoved away when a huge crash echoed from his home.

There was a slight shuffle, then some anxious muttering that Yuuri couldn’t quite decipher. He figured that it was probably his father or mother clumsily dropping something in the kitchen… until the clock on the wall read 2 a.m.

Nobody would be awake. Someone was in the house.

Well, if Yuuri wasn’t alert then, he sure as hell was now.

He threw off his covers silently, creeping up to his door and peering out through the crack of it. He could hear the wind whistling through a window--which made absolutely no sense. They were underwater, for God’s sake. So something was wrong. What was this person aiming for and what the hell were they even trying to do?

Whatever their motives were, they were still breaking and entering, and something had to be done. At a moment like this, perhaps Yuuri would be freaking out; like he normally does. But the adrenaline now rushing through his veins gave him something he didn’t often feel: the ability to be calm.

Suddenly, though, his bedroom door flew open, revealing the scene that was the living room. Papers, ink, books… they all were slipping down to the floor as moonlight streamed in. And in that light was the culprit:

Shadowed by the moon, his features were difficult to make out, but…

Dark hair, even darker eyes reflected by tanned skin. Skinny and short, sort of lanky, almost. He looked… average. But that opinion changed when Yuuri actually stared.

Those eyes of his were a deep chocolate brown, warm and inviting. Something--and Yuuri didn’t know what--made him look strong. Formidable. Was it his stature? Those eyes of his?

He carried a burden. Shouldered it with all his might, lifted it high enough so that he could rest. Just high enough, so that he could be whoever he was. Kept it under wraps. 

Who was he?

Yuuri didn’t get to find out the answer, however, because something shiny immediately slipped out from under the person’s black sleeve. He yanked it out of its place and pointed it directly at Yuuri’s face, determination obvious in those eyes.

This was the Mystery Clan.

Mystery Clan leapt forward, keeping the object straight and holding it tightly. That was when Yuuri realized what it was: a knife.

Panic shot up through his limbs and made Yuuri freeze up completely. He was going to mark him with that, wasn’t he? Mystery Clan was going to leave a permanent scar in the shape of the letter ‘M’ on him somewhere. Yuuri could feel the sweat starting to prickle at the back of his neck. He could already imagine the pain of the knife slicing through his skin…

Mystery Clan stopped his jump right in front of Yuuri; he grabbed his arm violently and lifted it up without hesitation, showing his upper arm. And just as he was about to go for it, to cut that ‘M’ in, he stopped. 

Mystery Clan’s features softened very suddenly at something Yuuri couldn’t identify. His eyelashes fluttered almost dangerously before he released Yuuri’s arm, leaning back. And just as quickly as he had lunged at Yuuri, he had settled back into an almost calm position.

By the time Yuuri blinked again, he was gone.

~~~

Viktor honestly didn’t know why he was still awake. It had been about two hours since Yurio left. But honestly, maybe it was nostalgia that was keeping him up.

The way that Yurio looked at him now… and the ways he behaved… Yurio was growing. Viktor didn’t know in what direction, of course, but that was a good thing. He was becoming more mature.

That thought made him kind of sad. The old Yurio he knew, who was mean and short and grouchy was become kind of sage. The times he’d shared with him while skating might be in the past soon, not just a daily thing. But one had to chuckle at what Yakov must be thinking of Yurio’s new changes…

Viktor flopped onto his bed, resigned. He couldn’t say that he was very happy right now from finding out he was in love—but he could say that he was kind of displeased at not seeing Yuuri right now. He knew that he should probably find out a way to say what he felt. But how would Yuuri react? He was a mermaid, after all…

Would he get rejected?

Honestly, that idea shook Viktor through and through. He’d never been in love before. Never kissed someone. Never done anything. The thought of confessing sort of made him want to die, but it would be the right thing to do. No use in hiding it, he supposed. But just how could one do that??

Suddenly, though, that answer found its way to him simply by the sound of the doorbell downstairs.

~~~

Viktor didn’t really know who could possibly be at that door— perhaps it was Yurio back for another round. Anyone could’ve been fine in his state: completely exhausted and super giddy like a nine-year old. Viktor shuffled as quickly as shuffling could take him down the stairs and managed to make it to the front door. 

He couldn’t see anyone out the window, although the streetlight was illuminating the walkway up to his house. Who the hell was out there, and why? Huffing away his question, Viktor nearly yanked open the door to see someone he would’ve never expected.

Yuuri.

His doe-like eyes were now filled with pure terror, with fright and something like adrenaline. Yuuri seemed to have abruptly gained a few bags under his eyes and his usually blushing cheeks looked unnaturally shrunken.

Oh, something was terribly wrong. Viktor only had to glance for a second.

Immediately, Viktor knew what he had to do. It was simple, really. Viktor pulled Yuuri inside the house instantly, using his other hand to shut the door. Yuuri stood there, staring up at Viktor with a look like something of concern. Was Yuuri really wondering why Viktor could actually want him back in?

Viktor pulled Yuuri to his living room, where it was so dim and warm. Like a sort of safe haven. Yuuri stumbled along after him, trying to keep up, but his feet seemed to be disobeying. His face seemed like he just got back from nearly dying in a war or something…

Yuuri sat down without complaint, without a word. He kept his hazel eyes down, like he was attempting to bore a hole into the coffee table. Viktor sat across from him on the other couch and was just kind of flustered. He didn’t expect this, not ever. The fact that Yuuri had just popped up on his doorstep and had yet to say anything about why did not occur to Viktor as a possible event. Viktor knew he should do something; anything to break the silence. But those words found themselves coming out of Yuuri’s mouth first. 

“He’s here.”

Viktor flinched. “Who…?”

Yuuri’s eyes finally swung up to meet Viktor’s. Instead of frightened, they were sturdy, dignified in a sort of way. Strong. And with two words he explained it:

“Mystery Clan.”

Viktor’s eyes widened instantly, almost to the point where he thought they might just fall out. He’d told Viktor about them before— how they’d been breaking and entering lately. How those cuts dug deep into their victims’ skin in the shape of an ‘M’.

And Yuuri had been a target.

Viktor felt the urge to blurt out “Where did they hurt you?” immediately, but kept it in. No need to stress Yuuri out more. But if Yuuri’d been hurt somewhere… he swore that would be like a punch to the gut. And he had no idea what to do if that actually happened.

Yuuri gazed at Viktor now, long and hard for a moment. “He didn’t cut me, if that’s what you’re wondering. He stopped at the last second.”

Viktor felt the relief flood through his entire body, coming out in a huge sigh. Yuuri glanced up at him curiously, before settling back into that slightly sad yet determined look again. Viktor felt his heart constrict at that image. Yuuri looked… exhausted. Downcast.

But Yuuri didn’t look like he was going to let that get the best of him.

“I’ll be alright, Viktor. You don’t need to worry. I just… that was really surprising. And scary. I need to rest.”

It sure sounded like he knew his priorities, all right.

~~~

It was 3 a.m. by the time that Yuuri found himself once again in the uncomfortable situation that was sleeping next to Viktor.

Which made him blush furiously.

By now, the moon was still high in the sky, spreading it’s light all across St. Petersburg. And Viktor was still awake, staring up at the ceiling with a kind of astonished gaze. Yuuri had to wonder what was going on through his mind right then. What was he thinking about, all next to Yuuri like that?

The lamp on the nightstand next to Yuuri was still on, casting a faint glow across the room. But something felt wrong about it. Yuuri felt this distant feeling that the light should be off for some reason. He couldn’t describe it next to pure instinct; it wasn’t like that. It was simply a feeling.

A feeling he couldn’t shake off.

And laying on that bed together like that was weird as hell. The first time, it had just been Yuuri meandering up to Viktor half-asleep and quite loopy. (Of which he regretted later) They were just sitting there, not talking. Silent and still. But at the same time, it was peaceful, not moving. It was like… a home.

But Viktor’s voice sliced through the silence. 

“Are you tired, Yuuri?”

The way that Viktor’s accent nearly trilled on his name sent shivers up his spine. He didn’t know why. 

“Umm… yeah.” Yuuri tried to avoid the gaze of Viktor who was laying next to him. But those eyes of his… diligent, observant, wide blue. They still reminded Yuuri of the ocean, of seagulls and clouds. They were home.

They were beautiful.

So under the spell of those bewitching eyes, Yuuri felt himself slip into a natural slumber once more. One that smelled of mint and pastries and slightly like roses. One that was filled by a recent darkness in the room and warmth surrounding him.

One with Viktor.

~~~

The stress of the matter was already bothering Viktor.

How would he admit his feelings to Yuuri? And would he be completely heartbroken afterwards? Or would his heart be bursting with joy? He had no idea what to do.

And to make things even worse, Yuuri was currently sitting next to him and sleeping. Looking like a goddamn angel, really. So what should he do?

Viktor sighed heavily, exhausted. He needed to sleep, but at the same time his worries were getting the best of him already. Resigned, he flipped off the comforter he was under and ambled over to the balcony.

His parents had never really come out here that often; they preferred to stay inside and mind their own business. But the rare moments where Viktor would be allowed there were always magical. The sun would usually be setting, and you could have a perfect view of the sun reflecting off the Gulf. The seagulls would soar over the water and project their shadows across the waves. It was almost… enchanting. But now…

He was alone. Or was he really?

The door handle to the balcony squeaked slightly when he released it, stepping outside immediately. The frigid air outside rushed inside instantly, and covered Viktor’s body. He didn’t regret it, though. Maybe that chill was what he needed to make his worries just disappear. The moon was about halfway set now; and Viktor could faintly make out the sun starting to peek over the horizon. It was morning, and soon the whole city would be awake.

That brought Viktor to worry about what he was going to do that day as well. Worry?

Slowly but surely, the sun began to rise over the town, casting bronze and orange hues across the waters and city. And yes, he was right— that view was enchanting. Beautiful. Viktor only gazed at it for so long, however, before he heard a voice slice through the tranquility.

“Staying out in the cold like that probably isn’t good for you, Viktor.” It was Yuuri’s.

Viktor flipped around, slightly shocked until he saw the look on Yuuri’s face. A gentle smile, soft and accenting his cinnamon eyes once more. The sunrise made them even more colorful, and those same eyes gleamed with some odd emotion. Why, just why, was he given such a beautiful person to be around?

But everything was perfect. Viktor didn’t have to worry about confessing anymore. The sun, the sky, the Gulf… it was all there in the background. And the main piece Yuuri was there. All he had to do… was go for it.

Yuuri took his place by Viktor’s side silently, without another word spoken. And Viktor knew, he just knew that it was right. He knew that he had to do something. To tell Yuuri what he felt, who he thought that Yuuri was. To tell Yuuri just how gorgeous and incredible and record-breaking Viktor thought that he was. To express. To speak. To act.

Viktor faced Yuuri now, turning himself to Yuuri with a determined stare and too much on his mind. Too much… that needed to get out. And it did— because Viktor immediately pulled Yuuri’s arm forward…

And pressed his lips to Yuuri’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so  
> IM SO SORRY I WAS GONE FOR A WHOLE MONTH  
> here's the shtick: i literally had no inspiration to do anything at all, and every time i thought about writing i just got super lazy. oops.  
> I MADE THE CHAPTER EXTRA LONG THIS TIME TO MAKE UP FOR IT LOL
> 
> BUT HONESTLY THE GUILT GOT THE BETTER OF ME BECAUSE MAKING A STORY AND THEN JUST NOT UPLOADING FOR LIKE, FOREVER IS KIND OF SHITTY  
> sorryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
> 
> This week's chapter is sponsored by (or i suppose month's? DONT WORRY IM GOING TO UPLOAD MORE, IVE LEARNED MY LESSON)
> 
> Pinterest, dyanafl, email hangouts, haikyuu!!, netflix, grey's anatomy, the office, Avery Richardson (aka the person who plays Mystery Clan in this story lol. love ya) google docs, the witness wore red, packing, duplexes, drawing, toothpaste, my friend rowan, and most of all:
> 
> trying to pack up my closet since im moving and finding some boxes and getting excited so i turned around too fast and fell into the box and busted my ass  
> oops?
> 
> ALSO IM MOVING. DOES THAT FACTOR IN AS ME NOT BEING ABLE TO UPLOAD SOONER??? IT'S REALLY WEIRD HONESTLY. LIKE WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING ANYMORE
> 
> seeya next week (or so)  
> (to like the one person actually reading this)  
> (probably avery)  
> (and gloriya)  
> (hi gloriya)  
> (bye gloriya)


	10. Stage Blood Is Not Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yoyoyoyo what's up bitches im back
> 
> THINGS GET SPICY, YALL

Afterglow: A YOI Story:

Chapter 10: Definition  
____________

(Viktor’s direct POV)

My eyes were heavy as I wrote the last word of the letter, my eyes nearly snapping shut from the sheer exhaustion of it all. But, forcing my eyes open, I folded the paper closed and pushed myself off the desk with very little force. I could hardly move from being so tired, and meandered over to my bed without another thought.

I barely pulled my blankets over myself when I simply passed out. I suppose that’s what I get for investing in high-quality mattresses. But even if I was beyond exhausted, it didn’t mean that I still didn’t get dreams.

Dreams about what happened that night were the only ones that I got nowadays, and it’d been a full week since the incident. A full week since I’d seen Yuuri. A full week since I had my first kiss. A full week of guilt-ridden memories and days without purpose. It reminded me of when I first went into my break from skating. Day after day of nothing to do except cook and clean, without practicing really at all.

But what happened that day simply could not and would not leave my mind after all. Perhaps it was slightly traumatizing for me, but I just couldn’t think about anything else for the past week. What had happened.

Well, I ran. To put it mildly.

The instant that my lips touched Yuuri’s, I regretted it deeply, my mind already panicking. This is so impulsive. This is so silly. All of it.

I couldn’t stop it, either. My so-called “instincts” kicked in and I bolted out of there as fast as I could. I don’t call them instincts, because they were what made me run away from what I thought was a problem, when it really wasn’t.

All I was doing was running away from things that were bound to come flinging back around and smack me in the head. Like a shackle closed tight around my neck.

I abandoned him. I left Yuuri behind just so I could feel safe for one single moment. I did it so that I could sprint through my hometown, as if I was looking for something that I definitely would not find. As if I thought that Yuuri was actually going to follow after me. How stupid.

Or at least I thought.

When I woke in the morning, I had to practically unplaster my eyelashes from my cheeks. I had been crying in the night, huh…

I wondered what dream could have horrified me that much before suddenly remembering that night again. Oh. Of course it was that night. What else would it possibly be? 

Wiping my eyes of the night, I wasn’t surprised to see the sky totally overcast, and the snow already pounding into the pavement. Seems like another day of doing nothing…

Like normal.

I attempted to stretch before stepping into the shower, letting the scorching water compensate for what was missing in life. I don’t think that I even cleaned my hair or anything in there, but instead just stared at the faucet like it was about to move. While I eventually snapped back into reality, the time I spent in there felt reminded me of how I felt internally: empty. Without real emotion anymore.

Maybe, then, I was right. Maybe I was in love, and maybe that’s just what happens when you lose someone.

I had no idea.

~~~

(Yuuri’s direct POV)

I feel like… in the middle of the night, I suddenly switched personalities.

Like, if I used to be ‘Yuuri Katsuki’ one day, and then the next I transformed into this warped, confused version of what I called “Myself”. I don’t know what happened. At all. But what I do know is that I’ve changed. That’s all I can say about it.

Perhaps, though, that night had a role in it. What happened that night--probably one of the worst nights ever. I could still feel it, too. The whole feeling of the day. The emotions I experienced when he left.

When he left me behind.

My fingers went up to my lips once more, subconsciously, trying to at least identify what had happened. It occurred and ended so fast, sometimes I wonder if it even happened at all. How he had just leaned down so quickly and casually. Or why he did it.

I already knew the answer to that, though. I don’t think I should have just ignored it.

My eyes flickered open, the sight of the bare ceiling rolling into view. I sighed, curling into a fetal position on the “bed” until I couldn’t even move anymore. There were doors shutting in the house, some slamming, others not. I didn’t know who it was, and I didn’t care. I hadn’t come out of my room for so long that I was starting to forget why I was even there.

Nobody had even come inside--they were all bustling around the house and trying to get prepared to see the Kovas. The leaders of our species. It was a pretty big deal, honestly, so I didn’t see why nobody bothered to ask me something. But at the same time, I was glad there wasn’t anyone here.

My eyes closed slowly, tiredness seeping in from behind my eyelids. I had just woken up, and I already wanted to sleep again. I had no idea what time it was. It didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered anymore except the tiny strand of hope I kept clinging onto.

The hope, the feeling, the trust that Viktor might just come back. That Viktor might find a way to communicate to me. That maybe, just maybe we could speak once more. I didn’t care if it was the last time. He was the only person I wanted to talk to.

I realized that when he left me on that slowly-lit balcony, as I watched him run away from everything. And I was still thinking about it as I observed him wander back after a couple of hours. I don’t even think he tried to see if I was still there.

I suppose we’re all injured in some ways we don’t understand, to the point where we can’t even do basic things.

~~~

(Viktor)

I wracked my brain for hours just to find the solution to this one simple problem: How was I going to give my letter to Yuuri?

It took a ridiculous amount of time because every other second I would think about that night, and it made me feel terrible. I kept having to go back and think about the same thing for nearly half an hour. I guess that’s just the power of guilt, after all.

There was only one place, I knew that Yuuri would go back to. He wouldn’t go back to the house (because of the awful memory there) or go to the tiny cove (because that’s when we had our first and bad meeting) or even go to the alley where I’d chased him. There was only one place:

The skating rink. No bad things there. No weird people or chasing into the Gulf of Finland. It, at least, was normal. And I knew exactly what to do there.

I was going to give my letter in the best way possible, I knew. And I just had to smile at that.

~~~

(Yuuri)

At some point or another, I knew that I needed to get out of here. Get out of this house, and into the city. I felt this weird… eagerness to go and find Viktor. But at the same time, the memories of that night were relentless, and weighed my thoughts down without mercy.

There were two halves of my mind that were battling each other then. One, the side that told me to find Viktor--to see him and just do something about the memory. And the other, repeating what he had done to me over and over without stopping.

Every move I took wasn’t without hesitation. When I opened my door. When I crept out of the house without a sound. When my head reached the surface of the water, the cloudy sky of St. Petersburg greeting me immediately. It didn’t stop. No, it just couldn’t. I could hardly think as I approached the abandoned cove, where we had first met. Nobody was ever there anymore, thanks to the piles of snow nowadays. But as I stepped onto the beach, I felt strangely nostalgic all of a sudden. This is where we first met.

I stepped onto that beach quietly, almost no breath escaping my lips. My eyes closed slowly, softly, as I exhaled. I could almost feel the tension rising in my body now, my mind conflicted between the two sides.

But at the same time, where was I to go? I wasn’t going to go back to that awful house--the place where Viktor had just run. And it wasn’t like I was going to take a casual stroll back to the alley where he had stared right into my very soul. But what place was right? What place would be likely to have Viktor in it?

The rink. Of course.

Scrambling through the piles of brush and dead trees that led to Laskovvy Beach, right next to the cove, I narrowly avoided a thornbush and tore right through a giant pile of crumbling leaves. Breaking out into Laskovy, I started my mad dash to the rink.

I could barely see where I was going, barely know what I was doing. The desperation in my movements and eyes seeped through to my soul, tearing me apart by flesh and bone. Sweat flew down the back of my neck, feeding my intense desire just to get there. My breath came shallow and hard, and I was fighting for oxygen as my limbs keep going forward.

I had just put one staggering step into the doorway when I caught sight of the reception desk, the receptionist obviously getting ready to leave. The sun was setting behind me already, and the sun was casting shades of bronze and orange through the sliding glass doors. Suddenly terrified, I forced my body to move another step, then another. Until I made it to where the woman was standing, her face fixed in surprise until I did so.

But her eyes warmed with a kind smile, brightening the room considerably. Her reddish-brown hair reflected her personality, her cheeks flushed with a slight hue of pink and her hair pulled up in a loose bun. Her name tag reading “YUUKO”, she spoke only five words to me:

“Yuuri, right?” I stiffened in shock as her finger pointed down a hallway to her left. “Right through there.”

That meant… Viktor was waiting for me here. He knew that I would show up, didn’t he? But… he’s here. He’s actually here. I can see him.

Even if it’s the last time.

~~~

The walk to the rink was absolutely still, deadly silent. As if time itself had just ceased to exist. My steps were defiant, walking back against my fears and worries. I was here. I was actually here, and not going to just run away.

I was going to do something for once.

That was when I heard it.

The sound of metal scraping into ice, cutting it open and slicing it apart with the force of a human being. The wind began to shatter midair, twisting and pulling acceleration to separate sides as the human leapt through the air to the frozen ice. The frigid atmosphere inside kept being yanked apart and put together again as the figure defied the laws of motion and spun three, four times in the air.

I could hear it all, echoing in that hallway. The sounds of just skating, no music. But it didn’t need any music, no. It was music within itself.

And I enjoyed every note of it.

I could already feel the cold air biting my skin as I reached the doorway, pulling the handle so, so gently. Like it might break if I wasn’t careful enough. 

The door shut behind me silently, and I took in the sights before me: frozen, stiff air. Solid ice, being cut into with every movement within it. And one person, gliding on top of it with ease. Quiet, powerful. Beautiful. Viktor, so casually skating like he was the only person in the world.

My feet moved in front of me involuntarily, like my body was already trying to get closer to him. My hands slipped to the top of the barrier between us. I felt as if we were a million worlds apart, even though the only thing separating us was a partition next to the ice. But instead of touching the cold surface of wood, I felt… paper.

My eyes struggled to fall away from Viktor, my fingers grasping the piece of paper. The only thing I saw on it was my name, written in pretty cursive and twisting along the page.

The paper fell open, my eyes immediately gliding over the text. But already, on the first sentence, my eyes started watering. I didn’t know why. It was just happening. Out of gratitude, sadness, or anger, I didn’t know.

It read:

"The instant my lips touched yours, I felt regret immediately. It all felt so silly all of a sudden. The sleepover. The moments we shared. The times we spoke, the times we looked at each other at all. I thought I felt intensity there. I thought that I felt love.

I shouldn’t have even considered what Yurio said. Why was I so gullible? I paid attention to what some teenagers said rather than my own personal thoughts, and impulsive.

So this was silly. All of it. Or maybe just all meaningless. I had gotten so carried away, and for what? Embarrassment? The feeling of accomplishment, if only for a moment?

No. I did it because I felt something I hadn’t ever felt before. Something entirely new, and I didn’t know what to do. And now… 

I broke it off only a few seconds after it began, knowing what I was doing. Knowing perfectly well what this would do to you, to me in the future. But I didn’t have any clue as to what else I could do. 

I felt so useless as I ran through my home, scrambling down the stairs in such a rush I nearly fell down them all. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I went, feeling something I couldn’t even begin to identify start to creep through my thoughts. I ignored it, but later I knew what it was--regret.

I felt regret leaving you behind, Yuuri. I felt regret as I ran through the broken streets of my home. I feel regret as I write this, regretting telling you the truth. But you deserve it, of course. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about what I felt to you. I’m sorry that I abandoned you. I”m sorry for it all.

I’m so sorry, Yuuri. You would never have deserved that in the slightest. The thought of being left behind by you would make me feel awful. So I’m sorry. 

And I have a confession, Yuuri:

I like you. No, I think I love you. It’s horribly embarrassing to write, but it’s true. I love you. No matter what anyone else says, or what you may think--I think you’re beautiful. And I wanted to say that the time I spent with you was quite possibly the most enjoyable in my life.

I’m not expecting a response from you. I just wanted to tell you everything. Because we all deserve the truth. Including you. Embrace whatever makes you happy, Yuuri. Tell it how you feel, and embrace it. That’s what I did. Good luck."

There were no words. That’s the only way that I could describe it. Not in a million, trillion years could I even begin to describe how many emotions were clashing around in my soul then, coming out in a flood of tears cascading down my cheeks. My eyes stung with the pressure, the letter falling to the floor as I attempted to wipe the water away.

But gentle hands soon took the place of my own, just barely touching my shoulders with slight grace. The sensation grew stronger and stronger, soon wiping my tears away with their own movements.

I could hardly move as a smooth, accented voice sliced through the air. “What are you just standing there for? Join me.”

I flipped around at the sound, shocked for only a moment until I saw the warm, kind smile on Viktor’s face. So inviting. So soft.

At the sight of him, I only felt more tears slide down my face. Perhaps it was purely out of relief and joy to be seeing him, to be satisfied for once at something.

Those hands of his quickly grasped around my own, telling me to follow after him with a sort of kindness that I couldn’t even begin to understand. My steps were clumsy and short, but he was patient and guided me to a bench so I could sit. 

After I did, I was left to awkwardly sit there for what seemed like hours, my eyes constantly flickering over my surroundings. What did Viktor have planned, exactly? The sun was nearly set by now, it’s last light sliding through the windows at the top of the rink. For a moment I contemplated just leaving until Viktor came back into view, holding a plastic bag.

At first, I was deeply confused, until he unwrapped it to reveal a pair of… skates.

Why?

“These are my old skates, the ones I used as a teenager. They should fit your size.”

My eyes widened with surprise. I was unable to find the words for a few moments until my mouth finally formed something audible: “You want me to--”

“Yes. Won’t you come with me?”

Viktor cut me off abruptly, but my fear wasn’t taken away. Viktor wanted me, an utter and complete novice, to try ice skating? He was the world champion. How could he possibly--

Viktor placed them on the bench next to me, sitting down just right next to the pair. My eyes shuddered closed, thinking about what might happen if I do this. I might trip, fall, break something… But really, was any of that important when Viktor was there? Wasn’t he there to hold me up, to guide me on the ice?

My eyes came back open again, but this time it wasn’t because I was forcing them to. I wanted to do this. I wanted to place my trust in Viktor, I wanted to have him keep me upright. Keep me afloat.

It was all I could do to not flee by sheer instinct, pulling the skates on before I could really think. Perfect fit.

It was a mistake to instantly stand up, however, as I immediately fell downwards before Viktor just barely caught me in time. “Don’t stand up so fast when you’re not used to it. You’ll get hurt.”

That warm, comforting smile was any and all expression he had when pulling me along to the ice. His steps were so confident and easy with his skates, while mine were wobbly and broken. But he didn’t look impatient, didn’t say a word about my slowness. Viktor held my hand tightly the whole time, his bright eyes nearly seeping into my soul.

To put it mildly--the ice is slippery.

No, it’s not. It’s like trying to walk around with a bunch of trash bags tied to your feet on ice. Or maybe just thin metal blades that only know how to slide back and forth.

The instant that I set foot on there, I almost fell over. Luckily, I had Viktor there to catch me (and also catch me for the many other times I slipped) and hold my body up. I don’t think his hand ever left mine, the touch of his smooth skin never escaping me for even a second. He taught me how to brake (pushing the tip of the skate, where it’s jagged, into the ice sharply.) and at least go across by myself for a while. While my feet were still wobbling and struggling to move, he never once complained. He didn’t say a word, never gave an exhausted sigh that surely would’ve depleted my spirits. 

He showed me the jumps. Triples, loops, lutzes, spins, step sequences, and flips. I got a display of watching him glide to the center of the rink, digging his skate into the ice in preparation as he moved, and twisting midair three times; his leg flying out in front of him as he landed. Triple toe loop. An Ina Bauer. A quadruple flip (an impressive sight) and a quadruple salchow. They all mingled within each other, Viktor sometimes doing one randomly or just for the purpose of demonstrating. I seriously doubted that I could ever do something as amazing as jumps… but it was incredible to witness someone like him do it. He was a professional, through and through.

I felt as if I had experienced something truly magnificent after seeing all of that and trying skating firsthand. I could see just how much Viktor had worked towards his career, and how he had definitely needed that year off. He… did so much in his life, and yet was hanging around me?

By the time I’d realized how long I’d even been in there, the moon was streaming in through the few windows along the top of the rink, bathing us in the light. A clear night.

Without warning, Viktor had suddenly taken my hand, my face flushed with the feeling of it. My eyes flickered nervously around the rink as he pulled me towards the center of it, stopping directly in the middle with grace. I stopped when he did, trying to contain myself. What was going to happen now…?

I think I already knew.

Viktor didn’t let go of my hand, giving me that same smile that made my heart soar. The moon reflected off those bright eyes of his, giving it a glassy look that made his silver hair look pure white. 

His hand left mine and grasped my waist.

I could hardly breathe, as if the air was just stuck in my throat. But I knew that I shouldn’t worry about it. All of this, skating, the jumps, the smiles… they were all for one sole purpose. One thing that I knew.

I was surprised that I didn’t even know it beforehand.

At first, when Viktor’s lips touched mine, I froze up in shock. My eyes shot open with surprise, my hands have already starting to twitch. Viktor didn’t move his hand, though. Instead, he just opened his eyes.

And then we were just staring at each other, Viktor watching me as I stood there frozen, not sure how to move anymore or whatever they did. What was I supposed to do on my first actual kiss?

Viktor leaned back slightly, just centimeters from my face, before whispering, “You’re supposed to kiss back, you know.” I heard a small chuckle escape his lips before I both seized up in horror and immediately grasped the nape of his neck. And before I knew it, there I was, leaning up to meet the height difference as I stood in an ice rink kissing the world champion ice skater Viktor Nikiforov.

It would certainly make quite the story.

I don’t know how I would describe that experience except for the way that Viktor simply kept going, kept holding me close, shut his eyes and kept them closed. I got the sense that Viktor had been waiting to do this for a long time, and he wanted to remember the moment for a long time to come. I don’t think there was anything particularly special about kissing a man--other than the fact that it was all very embarrassing… But I still knew that I had wanted to do this. I wanted to kiss Viktor. It wasn’t like he had forced me, but it was my own free will. And that fact made the moment even sweeter.

Something I especially remember is the way that he still smelled like: roses and mint and something like pastries that made me want to sit there and try to identify it. Viktor was still the same, still looked the same, still stood the same and still felt the same. He was Viktor.

And after it all, Viktor just wrapped his arms around me, holding me even tighter to him against the cold ice in the rink. Moonlight stretching all around us, I heard the words that at first I thought I didn’t hear at all:

“I love you.”

Air involuntarily escaped my lips before I closed my eyes against his shoulder. With a shiver at the words a small smile, I gave my response.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS  
> (aka the literal one person actually keeping up to date with this. i know ur out there stranger)
> 
> soooooooooo  
> i just moved into a new house like 25 minutes away from my old one. needless to say, I HATE MOVING WITH A BURNING, FLAMING PASSION
> 
> so ive been extremely busy moving, unpacking, (sitting around) as well as making a whole new goddamn story on writerscafe.org. SO DON'T YELL AT ME FOR BEING LIKE A WHOLE MONTH LATE
> 
> anywho: DID YA REALLY THINK THAT I WOULDNT MAKE THE NEXT CHAPTER SPICCCCCCCYYYYYYY????????
> 
> this chapter is sponsored by: (ohh boy it's gonna be a long one today ya'll)  
> chromebooks, cats raining from the ceiling (literally, im not kidding), ceiling fans, running until i nearly passed out, tablets, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, cardio, tiny t-shirts, toothpaste (again) listerine, clarinets, Avery Richardson (uwu son, i love you) Dyanafl, pinterest, Canvas, keyboards, applesauce and most of all having a stray cat you named Fatty Jackass somehow get into your attic and you don't know why it happened
> 
> Seriously. I'm not joking about that.  
> HOW DID HE GET IN?


	11. A Spark of Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff 4u

Afterglow: A YOI Story:

Chapter 11: A Spark of Light  
____________

Something, somewhere, was telling Viktor that this was wrong.

Still, on the basis of the impulse, he kept going along with it, hoping to catch some sort of recognition from the other side. But with every movement he made in request, the opposing side gave the same solid answer: No.

Or, at least, if you would like to be realistic here and not so formal, you could say that Viktor was just bothering Yuuri while he was trying to sleep.

“Oi. Go to bed, you dork.” Yuuri yanked a pillow over his head, attempting to block out the insistent speech of Viktor. But it wasn’t like that was going to make him stop. At all. He was hyper as hell, and was in the mood to pull another all-nighter. So why shouldn’t he invite Yuuri to join in on the fun?

A mischievous smile curled onto Viktor’s face; he couldn’t help it. Sure, Yuuri had been telling him to go to sleep for the past hour, and Yuuri looked increasingly annoyed, but he was just about to break. A little push… and…

Viktor poked Yuuri square in the stomach.

“Piggy.”

Eyes shot open at that, round and a sharp shade of brown. “Well that did it, Viktor. I’m up. You happy now?” A sort of scoff sounded from Yuuri’s lips, agitated like there was no tomorrow. But from the quiver shaking on his chin dimple, Viktor could tell that Yuuri was about three seconds away from bursting out with a giggle. 

With a snort, Viktor rested his back on his headboard. Pulling his phone from its charger on the nightstand, he checked the time before feeling eyes catch on his phone screen.

“It’s 9:30, Yuuri.”

Viktor swore he saw a hard flinch from the corner of his eye before swiveling to observe the other. Next to him in the dim light was a blinking man, sweat clearly visible on his brow. Viktor cocked an eyebrow at the perpetrator before giving quite possibly the loudest snort ever, erupting into a fit of giggles. With several gasping breaths to compose himself, Viktor spoke just as Yuuri cracked a smile. 

“Hah… why would you make us go to sleep at 9:30? That’s like… for a child!” Viktor gave another light snort at that, resisting the urge to flick the front of Yuuri’s nose with his finger.

With a flush, however, Yuuri looked down at his palms. “Sorry, I just thought that you were tired…” His eyes fell delicately to his fingers as if he was doing an inspection on them, strain showing behind the cinnamon. Viktor stared for only a moment before instinctively sliding his hand across Yuuri’s open one. “Ah, you’re fine. Besides,” Viktor’s eyes flicked up to meet Yuuri’s, “this just gives us all the more chance to stay up all night, right?”

Viktor could’ve heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Yuuri had managed a smile at that. He was glad that he was at least able to make him feel better about that; otherwise he’d probably spend the whole day feeling bad about it. But really…

Viktor flopped onto his side, already reflexively opening his Twitter page while absent-mindedly recalling what had happened before this. What had happened…

A bit of a coy smile crept onto Viktor’s lips, but only for a moment. It’d be odd if Yuuri looked over to see Viktor grinning for no apparent reason. However, Viktor couldn’t help but give a sort of giddy smile when he thought about the events that had occurred. That night, the letter, and of course--Viktor felt his bottom lip quivering while trying not to burst out laughing--sitting in the middle of the ice rink with his arms around his waist…

Viktor managed a sort of half-snort, which made Yuuri turn his head from the book he was reading. Giving him a quirked eyebrow, he spoke very quietly, almost as if he didn’t want to be heard at all. “Viktor… have you ever considered…” Yuuri didn’t need to finish his sentence before Viktor knew what he was talking about.

Yuuri’s eyes fluttered to the sliding doors leading outside, looking weary and almost… sad. It kind of broke Viktor’s heart to see Yuuri like that; or rather, he might have just been too used to seeing a happier version of him. 

“Yes, I have.” Viktor folded his arms behind his head, his phone slipping off his stomach and into the space between them. “I don’t think that it would be a bad idea, per say, but I don’t know how it could possibly work.”

Yuuri blinked at Viktor for a few moments before replying in such a simplistic manner it made him feel quite stupid. “Yeah, but there are tons of mermaid-y things I can do to fix that. They’re temporary, but they’ll work.”

Viktor felt silly then, managing a slightly embarrassed flush to cover his cheeks before turning back onto his side. Compared to then, when all of this had begun at the ice rink, Viktor couldn’t help but feel almost overwhelmed with everything that had been happening.

After that night, they had walked to Viktor’s house together hand in hand, both too sleepy from skating that long to really move quickly. But still, even through a haze of exhaustion like that, they still saw the stars. High and sparkling above them and colored crisp by their white breath. Under streetlights and piles of snow they strolled, the chill stealing their oxygen and the wind whipping their faces. The air sank deep into their bones, causing them to shiver with every step and their cheeks blasted pink from a too-frigid environment. Something was happening, they knew. They felt it in the air, like a spreading disease or a threatening breeze. Something was occurring for them to go along in that utter silence, trudging across the frozen sidewalks like nothing had gone wrong in the first place.

The sky drifted into a lazy sort of blurry black, snow catching in their hair before they could notice it. And then, they had just arrived. They had done nothing else the whole time except observe the night transform itself--holding onto a warm hand of the other’s.

It’d been three weeks since then.

Three entire weeks, and Yuuri hadn’t been home since. Which… that was actually concerning. You’d figure that Yuuri’s parents would be full-on manhunting by now. But no. Nothing of the sort had happened, which made Viktor actually feel sorry for Yuuri. Did his family just not care or something…?

While Yuuri assured Viktor that that was not the case, Viktor still held onto a glimpse of guilt. Yuuri said things like “They don’t mind if I go out” or “It’s not like it’s fun there anyways”. But was it really worth staying with someone like Viktor, a human? Essentially the mermaids’ sworn enemies? Now that was even more concerning, but the biggest horror of all would be if Yuuri’s parents found him here with Viktor. 

Viktor had to shudder at the mere thought. He could only imagine it going one of two ways: One, they would either hate him immediately and try to murder him, or two: they would approve it and try to kill him secretly. Either way, they still hated him and killed him in the end. Or maybe that idea was just Viktor’s fear of Yuuri’s species in general; he had no idea. 

Something else was bothering Viktor as well: how long would Yuuri be staying here? Sure, it was amazing having him here for this long without breaks; all they did nowadays was eat food, sit quietly together as Yuuri watched Viktor’s Twitter feed, and on occasion, kiss. But while all that was well and good, one had to worry about just when he would go back. And if/when he did, would his parents be mad at him, and make him stay there with them? Viktor couldn’t help but cringe at the idea. The very thought sent him spiraling, it was so extreme. Not to mention that it didn’t make him feel all that great--he didn’t have a clue where he would be or what he would be doing anymore without Yuuri.

Lost in his thoughts then, Viktor barely noticed when Yuuri had gotten out of the bed. Shaken from his haze when he realized it, he stared at Yuuri curiously before giving him a quirky smile. “Where you going, Yuuri?”

Yuuri yanked a random shirt out of Viktor’s dresser drawer before slipping it over his bare chest. “Well, if we’re going to stay up all night again, then what’s the point of just staying in bed? Let’s go out and do something.”

Viktor blinked at that before feeling himself crack a wild grin. That was an excellent idea, Yuuri. God knows what they would find out there on a night like this, really. Although the idea was mildly terrifying, Viktor couldn’t say no to the idea. He was up for a bit of an adventure. And if Yuuri was willing, even… that made things even better.

Shooting out of bed like a bullet, Viktor pulled something on before he could really even think about it. He was way too excited…

~~~

The streets of St. Petersburg weren’t as busy as Viktor thought they would be, necessarily. Rather than be bustling with the attention of hundreds of people, there seemed to be only a few dotting the roads. Several were hanging around in stores, various stores, and bars. Where would Yuuri and Viktor even begin? 

Viktor smirked, hand in hand with Yuuri. Why, of course they had to start with the latter. How was a night like this going to be complete without a bar, really? Answer: it wouldn’t even be one to begin with. So, pulling his scarf even tighter around his neck and typing a destination into his phone, he observed the space around him with deep curiosity.

Yuuri, standing next to him wearing a mismatch of Viktor’s clothing, stared at Viktor under the beanie he was wearing. His glasses fell to the edge of his nose almost delicately, a flush of cold coloring his cheeks pink. A small grey coat wrapped around him and a navy scarf covering his mouth, white breath flew into the air with every moment. Viktor rose an eyebrow at every step Yuuri took, concerned if Yuuri would be able to handle this well. But so far, he seemed to be just fine.

Sooner than later, they stood in front of Viktor’s favorite old spot--a bar so packed to the gills it even made Viktor nervous. But when he felt Yuuri’s step fall forward towards it, he took that as a sign to go on inside along with him. 

People of all different colors, of all different backgrounds stood before him. Some black, others white. Some spoke in English, while others spoke in heavy, thick Russian. The dim lighting of the place made it difficult to see, and the shitty rock playing in the corner didn’t really help. Viktor barely saw from the edge of his eyes Yuuri twitching silently by his side--he was obviously trying to hide his sheer terror.

Viktor held back an exasperated sigh. That wouldn’t help anyone. But, if this was stressing Yuuri out, then they probably should just go.

Slowly reaching up to Yuuri’s coat sleeve, he tugged twice on it before Yuuri’s head swiveled to meet his. In his eyes, instead of doe-like hazel brown, Viktor was met with inky, polished onyx that shot through his soul. His eyes… had turned black?

Still reeling as Viktor yanked Yuuri out of there, Viktor had to take him a ways down the road just to get some air back in his lungs. The sight of Yuuri like that had completely stolen his ability to breathe; and it was freaking him out quite a lot. Choking, almost gasping for oxygen that would never come, he stretched his hands onto his knees. But that only seemed to make things even more difficult, because now his face was completely flushing with the frigid air, and taking it in was impossible. His eyes straining to keep open with the lack of air, it was only a moment before he felt a quiet hand grasp his shoulder.

Only another second before Viktor was forced to turn around. And only another beat before Yuuri’s lips met his.

Viktor blinked.

Immediately attempting to squrim out of the way (there were PEOPLE around, for chrissakes!) he instantly felt a hand holding the nape of his neck. He couldn’t get out of it now--Yuuri was pressing Viktor to him like there was no tomorrow. He probably couldn’t get out of it even if he wanted to… but there was a question bugging him as it occurred. Why here, in the middle of the street, where it was so open? Wasn’t Yuuri afraid of being stared at, of being possibly ridiculed?

That’s when Viktor realized it: The push of air entering his mouth.

Yuuri was just trying to help him breathe…?

Well, after THAT experience, Viktor wasn’t sure if he was going to ever breathe again. Yuuri eventually pulled away looking so red he was nearly a beet, and Viktor was sure he was the same. It was pretty silly, all of it. But with that Viktor almost felt like he was okay--some air had returned to him, and was doing so quite slowly. But he was still there.

Words slipped into the night, quiet and solitary like the sky itself. “Sorry about that, Viktor. It’s just that… you looked so panicked, and…” Yuuri looked down, scratching the back of his head with an awkward glance before speaking once more. “I know that that probably freaked you out in there…”

Viktor resisted the urge to either point a finger at Yuuri’s now-normal eyes or burst out laughing crazily. He chose simply not to move as Yuuri’s thoughts shattered the empty air around them.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say so sooner, but… it kind of runs in the family, that sort of thing. I mean, not the whole mermaid species in general, but… my family.” Yuuri’s gaze slowly came up to meet Viktor’s, somewhat melancholy in the light of the streetlamp above them. “When the Katsukis would ever get too stressed out or scared, sometimes their eyes would go and do… that.”

An involuntary sigh of relief escaped Viktor’s lips. “Oh, that’s good. Well, not the whole eyes-turn-black-when-you’re-nervous bit but… I thought that something had gone horribly wrong in there or something. I was worried.” 

Viktor grasped his hand around Yuuri’s back, instantly pulling him close and burying his head in Yuuri’s shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that, okay?”

Hesitant hands trembled very slightly in the air, quite slowly moving to touch Viktor back. Awkwardly holding Viktor on the road like that, Viktor had to feel better. Nothing was wrong, well, except, for Yuuri’s family’s eyes.

But in the midst of this moment, three voices echoed into the night, smashing the world with the weight of the only word they spoke.

“Yuuri?”

This, Viktor assumed, was Yuuri’s…

Family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so um  
> HI
> 
> BITCH I BEEN BUSY WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?? EVEN DOH IT BEEN TWO FUCKIN MONTHS I WAS STILL TOO LAZY TO UPDATE THIS EVEN THOUGH I HAVE HAD IT WRITTEN FOR LIKE A MONTH
> 
> UGH ANYWAYS
> 
> I actually have been incredibly busy... moving and unpacking, adjusting, writing ASBAB, talking online to people, school, trying to focus on schoolwork (for once) looking at other schools, and whatnot. Also not getting enough sleep. That too..
> 
> This chapter is short and sweet lol, I tried to make some sort of fluffiness in there? also while i was making this i was very much sick and running a fever (NOT THE CORONAVIRUS) so i just BARELY managed to puke something up. anyway there it is
> 
> This... (month's?/????/??//?////??/?????) chapter is sponsored by:  
> Hydroxyzine, ibuprofen, mucinex DM, Avery Richardson, Dyanafl, Lotus Parton, potatoes, turkey, toothpaste, my keyboard being dirty as hell, bedsheets, cold windows and love letters.

**Author's Note:**

> ya'll
> 
> imma update this as soon as i finish the chapters
> 
> i just dont happen to know how fast my mind will work before it collapses in on itself
> 
> it happened last week, itll happen again ;))


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